OF CATS AND RATS - STUDIES OF THE NEURAL BASIS OF AGGRESSION

• NCJ Number: 41898
• Author(s): A H ROSENFELD; S A ROSENFELD
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH 25466
• Corporate Author: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS PAPER DESCRIBES RESEARCH THAT IS BEING CONDUCTED BY DR. JOHN P. FLYNN OF YALE UNIVERSITY TO DETERMINE WHAT PARTS OF THE BRAIN CONTROL AGGRESSION AND HOW THEY ARE FUNCTIONALLY INTERRELATED.

Abstract

IN AN EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE BRAIN MECHANISMS UNDERLYING AGGRESSION, THE RESEARCHER IMPLANTED ELECTRODES IN THE HYPOTHALAMUS AREAS OF A NUMBER OF CATS' BRAINS, AND USED THEM IN EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING ARTIFICIAL STIMULATION OF BRAIN AREAS DURING CERTAIN SITUATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, THEIR BEHAVIOR WAS OBSERVED DURING ARTIFICIALLY STIMULATED ATTACKS ON RATS. THE RESEARCHER DISCOVERED THAT VARIOUS FORMS OF AGGRESSION SEEM TO EMERGE FROM DIFFERENT STIMULI, NEEDS, AND BRAIN PATTERNS. THE RESEARCH ALSO INDICATES THAT MORE THAN ONE BRAIN COMPONENT IS INVOLVED IN ATTACK, THAT THERE EXISTS IN THE BRAIN A WEB OF NEURAL PATHWAYS THAT MEDIATE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AND THAT CERTAIN REFLEXLIKE MECHANISMS IN THE BRAIN ARE 'PREPROGRAMMED' TO RESPOND IN CERTAIN WAYS WHEN SPECIFIC SENSORY RECEPTORS ARE ACTIVATED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)...KAP