Unraveling the morphological brain architecture of human aggression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Aggression is an umbrella term referring to behaviors intended to harm others. However, aggressive behaviors vary in terms of forms (i.e., physical, verbal) and functions (i.e., proactive, reactive). Recent findings suggest that both motives and forms may be associated with distinct brain structures. However, no studies have meta-analytically summarized their commonalities and differences. A systematic search strategy was conducted up to May 1st 2023 using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Image was used to meta-analyze voxel-based morphometry studies. Exploratory analyses on meta-analytic findings were conducted to identify their associated mental functions and examine their degree of overlap with brain lesion associated with aggression. A total of 92 experiments were included in the meta-analysis (N=2593, mean age=26.2, 68.5% males). General aggression was characterized by reduced grey matter volume (GMV) in the medial prefrontal cortex. Reactive aggression was associated with reduced GMV in the rostral medial prefrontal cortex, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and proactive aggression with greater GMV in the ventral caudate. Co-activation brain networks of these morphological correlates further distinguished reactive and proactive into socio-affective/somatosensory and motivational processes, respectively. We also found that the medial prefrontal cortex cluster of general aggression was a primary site in which focal brain lesion may increase the risk for aggression. The current study highlight that functions of aggression are associated with distinct abnormalities in grey matter volume. These findings add to the growing body of literature suggesting potentially distinct aetiologies between aggression motives. • The morphological brain features associated with the diverse forms and functions of aggression are not well understood. • General Aggression is linked to reduced GMV in the medial prefrontal cortex. • Reactive and proactive aggression are linked to GMV deficits in socio-affective and motivational processes, respectively • Brain lesions resulting in aggression converge in the medial prefrontal cortex, underscoring its role as a crucial hub
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.014 | 0.027 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.012 | 0.021 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.010 | 0.011 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".