Psychobiological stress regulation and aggression: Investigations on the dimensionality of externalization

外化光谱的特征是去抑制/冲动、反社会攻击行为以及物质使用和滥用。本项目的主要目的是研究外化行为的个体差异与神经、情绪、认知和心理内分泌应激调节有关的观点。我们还假设外化行为程度的差异可以预测急性应激暴露后的攻击行为率，并且外化行为与攻击诱导过程中不同的神经元激活模式有关。虽然外化的特征是情绪反应的改变，但迄今为止，缺乏关于心理和心理生物学应激调节的数据。外化不是一个分类结构，而是一个连续结构。因此，外化行为将在正常和健康成人的同质和特征良好的样本中进行广泛的正常变异调查。这种方法可以最大限度地减少其他典型的混杂因素，如共病（例如精神病学和法医样本）或重要的环境条件（例如监禁）。为了评估我们在普通人群中的研究结果是否可以推广到临床样本，我们还检查了一个男性法医样本，其特征是早期获得和持续的反社会攻击行为模式。作为生物学结果测量，我们建议评估内分泌参数（皮质醇，睾酮）；作为心理变量，我们计划测量急性应激暴露的情绪和认知反应。我们期望内分泌应激反应与情绪和认知应激反应之间的分离。应用实验设计（急性应激诱导与对照条件），我们还研究了标准化急性攻击诱导范式中的行为效应。我们预计外化程度较高的受试者（特别是具有法医背景的受试者）在攻击诱导后的攻击行为率更高，并且攻击行为指数与应激情绪和内分泌反应之间存在关联。本项目的另一个重要目标是研究急性应激期间的神经元激活模式以及功能磁共振成像（fMRI）期间的攻击诱导。我们预计，个体的外化程度与特定的神经元反应模式有关，例如，杏仁核、扣带皮层和前额皮质。

The externalizing spectrum is characterized by disinhibition/impulsivity, antisocial-aggressive behavior as well as substance use and misuse. The major aim of the proposed project is to investigate the thesis that interindividual differences in externalizing behavior are associated with neuronal, emotional, cognitive and psychoendocrine stress regulation. We also postulate that differences in the extent of externalizing behavior predict aggressive behavior rates after acute stress exposure and that externalizing behavior is related to differential neuronal activation patterns during aggression induction. Although externalizing is characterized by altered emotional reactivity, to date, there is a lack of data on psychological and psychobiological stress regulation. Externalizing is not a categorical but a continuous construct. Thus, externalizing behavior will be investigated across a wide range of normal variation in a homogenous and well-characterized sample of normal and healthy adults. This approach allows to minimize otherwise typical confounding factors like comorbidity (e.g., in psychiatric and forensic samples) or significant contextual conditions (e.g., incarceration). To evaluate if our findings in subjects from the general population can be generalized to clinical samples, we additionally examine a forensic sample of men characterized by an early-acquired and persistent pattern of antisocial-aggressive behavior. As biological outcome measures, we propose assessing endocrine parameters (cortisol, testosterone); as psychological variables, we plan measuring emotional and cognitive responses to acute stress exposition. We expect dissociations between endocrine stress responses on the one hand and emotional and cognitive stress responses on the other. Applying an experimental design (acute stress induction versus control condition) we also investigate behavioral effects in a standardized acute aggression-induction-paradigm. We expect a higher rate of aggressive behavior after aggression-induction in subjects with a higher degree of externalization (in particular in subjects with forensic background) as well as associations between indices of aggressive behavior and emotional and endocrine responses to stress. A further important aim of the present project is the investigation of neuronal activation patterns during acute stress as well as aggression induction during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We expect that the individual degree of externalization is associated with specific neuronal response patterns in, for example, the amygdala, cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex.