Abstract

DIAZ GALVAN, Karla Ximena  and  OSTROSKY, Feggy. Neuropsychological Performance in Violent Men: a Community Sample. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2012, vol.2, n.1, pp.555-567. ISSN 2007-4719.

Recent neurobiology research about violent behavior points out to the existence of a disorder associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, most studies are carried out on institutionalized samples. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate cognitive frontal functioning in violent men from a community sample with a neuropsychological battery that measures different prefrontal areas: dorsolateral (working memory and executive functions) orbital (decision making) and medial (inhibition); and to demonstrate if their neuropsychological performance is in any way similar to that found in institutionalized samples. 60 adult male subjects from a community sample of Mexico City participated in this study. Subjects were divided into violent (n=30) and nonviolent (n=30) using a screening questionnaire (Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire; Raine, 2006) in its Spanish adapted version (Andreu, Peña & Ramírez, 2009). We found that violent individuals compared to nonviolent controls exhibited a worse performance in overall tasks, but the only statistical difference we found was in tasks related to the orbitomedial functioning. Our results matched with previous studies carried out on institutionalized samples that referred a low orbitomedial performance; however we discussed the possible role of the antisocial component in violent behavior and neuropsychological performance.

Keywords : Violence; Neuropsychological performance; Community sample.

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