Classic Study; Raine Et Al

assess brain dysfunctions in brain areas associated with violence

-82 people split into two groups;39 males and 2 females -experimental group consisted of 41 criminals with convictions of murder or manslaughter and claimed to be NGRI

-6 had schizophrenia -23 suffered from brain damage/head injury -3 were substance abusers -2 had an effective disorder -2 had epilepsy -3 suffered with hyperactive/learning disability -2 diagnosed with passive aggressive/paranoid personality disorder

1)free from any medication 2 weeks prior to scan to reduce its effect on the brain 2)control and experimental group were matched based on age and gender 3)screened for general health 4)PPs excluded if they had a history of seizures ,head trauma or substance misuse 5)consent gained prior to PET scan

)PPs were given a continuous performance task (CPT) consisting of a sequence of blurred numbers to focus on 2)PPs started the CPT as a practical trial 10 mins before being injected with FDG 3)after 32 mins on the CPT, the PET scan was done to measure the metabolic rate in diff areas of brain to look at the activity

supported the hypothesis that brain dysfunction in the NGRI group was found in areas that previously implicated violent behaviour

1)lower activity in the PFC 2)lower activity in parietal areas 3)higher activity in occipital lobe 4)identical activity in temporal lobe

1)lower activity in corpus collosum 2)asymmetrical activity in amygdala 3)asymmetrical activity in medial temporal lobe 4)higher activity in right of hypothalamus

1)large sample size 2)any affects of medication on brain activity removed 3)PET scans allow reliable comparison as used on all PPs

1)only represents a small n0 of severely violent offenders as those pleading NGRI=not representative 2)study focuses on a subgroup of violent offenders so findings cant be used to explain other types of violent behaviour/criminality 3)possible extraneous variables so can’t relate brain dysfunction directly to certain behaviours (could be biological or env)