Neurologic Theories of Criminal Behavior

The human brain has certain regions that control behavior. The limbic system, for example, governs the social emotions, such as play, parenting behavior, and pair-bonding. The r-complex is the part of the brain that resembles the simple core that reptiles have, without the limbic system. The neocortex, a new layer over the limbic system, is like a heartless computer that reasons but does not feel. It is divided two waysùinto the right (intuitive) and left (logical) hemispheres and into four frontal lobes.

There are five neurologically specific theories of criminal/antisocial behavior: suboptimal arousal theory, reward dominance theory, seizuring theory, frontal lobe theory, and hemispheric functioning theory. Suboptimal arousal theory was deve

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w, unfamiliar situations, exhibiting response preservation instead. They tend to be emotionally flat, unable to feel sorrow themselves or empathy for othersÆ suffering. The standard measure for frontal lobe dysfunction is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), which those with dysfunctional frontal lobes fail. Evidence pertaining to frontal lobe theory includes, a link to ADHD, impulsive, less equipped for moral reasoning, lower in intelligence, have slower brain waves, tend to have reduced blood flow to the frontal lobes, may show language deficits, tend to have alcoholic parents, and find it difficult to exercise self-control. People who have sustained massive frontal lobe damage are more prone to antisocial behavior. Hemispheric functioning theory was developed by Pierre Flor-Henry, who hypothesized that right hemispheric dominance or left hemispheric dysfunction causes criminal behavior. Hemisphere dominance is tested by the dichotic listening test, in which different auditory information is fed into each ear and then reversed; the subject then recites what he remembers. Hypotheses pertaining to hemispheric functioning theory suggest that criminals have deficiencies in language-dependent tasks but not other intellectual
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Approximate Word count = 1881
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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