Aggression in temporal lobe epilepsy and limbic psychotic trigger reaction implicating vagus kindling of hippocampus/amygdala (in sinus abnormalites on MRIs)

Five aspects associated with potentially aggressive partial limbic seizures are interrelated: (1) Five out of six unselected (consecutively referred) White, male out-of-character aggressive felons (mean age 33) had histories of recurrent nasopharyngeal infections, four with congruent MRIs, two of these MRIs also showed cortical atrophy, three men had histories of various seizures, and one scalp EEG was “congruent with seizures in the temporal regions.” All men had histories of head injuries. The diagnoses of their bizarre acts during a brief psychosis were partial limbic seizures in an “exhibitionist” with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and proposed limbic psychotic trigger reaction (LPTR) in four “murderers”, based on 13 specific symptoms and signs. (2) The men's nasopharyngeal (medical) conditions are hypothesized to be associated with intermittent mild stimulation of the vagus nerve. Supportive evidence shows that (3) experimental vagus stimulation has the most excitatory impact on hippocampus and amygdala, which are also (4) the most susceptible to limbic seizure kindling (by intermittent subthreshold stimuli). (5) even by contrast, high-voltage energy level and frequently applied vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which is used as an antiepileptic treatment; however, VNS has elicited seizures in some patients.     

Specific stimulus-evoked violent action in psychotic trigger reaction: a seizure-like imbalance between frontal lobe and limbic systems?

A recently proposed diagnostic class, psychotic trigger reaction, is deduced from careful clinical studies of eight white men, who upon a very specific trigger stimulus committed murder or attempted to (and in one case also rape). The new class is defined as a sudden ego-alien, motiveless (at least with respect to aggression), motor-wise well organized, violent complex action without emotional concomitants. The action is evoked (not provoked) by an individually unique stimulus within a specific context reviving repeated past traumatic experience. Typically there is no (significant) loss of consciousness and practically full recall. Observed are first-time hallucinations (visual, auditory, tactile, somesthetic, but not olfactory as in temporal lobe epilepsy) and signs of imbalance in the autonomic nervous system (loss of bladder control, ejaculation, profuse sweating, nausea). Only four of these men had previous psychiatric diagnoses (and then various ones) or abnormal EEGs at some time in their lives. Variety in prior diagnoses would be consistent with a seizure-like disorder, here specifically implicating an imbalance in functioning between limbic and frontal lobe systems. Clinical tests for the latter were prevailingly indicative of dysfunctioning. A detailed clinical analysis of the violent acts within their context suggests behaviors are analogous to certain limbic system mechanisms, especially the kindling phenomenon.     

The “Strange Acts of God:”The Hermeneutics of Concealment and Revelation in Luther and Shakespeare

Abstract: Martin Luther called himself “God's court‐jester”. He saw history as one of the “masks of God,” and he understood God as hiding Godself often behind the mask of the Devil. Luther developed a paradoxical theology, a theology of the cross, that is surprisingly compatible in certain respects with the paradoxical artistic vision of Shakespeare, especially in Hamlet, King Lear and Measure for Measure. Crucial motifs of Luther's theology—the hidden God, indirect revelation, revelation by concealment, revelation under the opposite, the “strange acts of God,” God's “rearward parts”(posteriora), and suffering (Anfechtungen and melancholy)—resonate with certain latent, even if at times blasphemeous, theological motifs and themes in Shakespeare. They also resonate with the experience of the Lutheran church in Hungary both in its past under communism and today in post‐communist Hungary.     

From volitional action to automatized homicide: changing levels of self and consciousness during partial limbic seizures

Refined definitions are proposed for subtle, transient changes primarily of the “sense of self,” as expressed in observable action behavior due to neuro-pathological disturbances, especially during partial seizures' interfering with volition. Two such subtypes are exemplified by temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), typically with clouding of consciousness (with amnesia for the acts), and by the proposed “Limbic Psychotic Trigger Reaction” (LPTR). During LPTR, consciousness is preserved to the extent that such seizure-stricken patients remember their acts, which are associated with a fleeting de novo psychosis and autonomic arousal. The acts are nonvolitional, unplanned, nonintended, motiveless, purposeless, and out-of-character, ranging from socially bizarrely inappropriate behavior to homicide. Basic “paleo” levels of the sense of self and of consciousness are preserved: Such patients “know” the nature, i.e., the kind of action, while they transiently lose their previously characteristic ability to fully appreciate the “quality” of their acts, their consequences, and implications.     

Changes in frontal and posterior cortical activity underlie the early emergence of executive function

Executive function (EF) is a key cognitive process that emerges in early childhood and facilitates children's ability to control their own behavior. Individual differences in EF skills early in life are predictive of quality‐of‐life outcomes 30 years later (Moffitt et al., 2011). What changes in the brain give rise to this critical cognitive ability? Traditionally, frontal cortex growth is thought to underlie changes in cognitive control (Bunge & Zelazo, 2006; Moriguchi & Hiraki, 2009). However, more recent data highlight the importance of long‐range cortical interactions between frontal and posterior brain regions. Here, we test the hypothesis that developmental changes in EF skills reflect changes in how posterior and frontal brain regions work together. Results show that children who fail a “hard” version of an EF task and who are thought to have an immature frontal cortex, show robust frontal activity in an “easy” version of the task. We show how this effect can arise via posterior brain regions that provide on‐the‐job training for the frontal cortex, effectively teaching the frontal cortex adaptive patterns of brain activity on “easy” EF tasks. In this case, frontal cortex activation can be seen as both the cause and the consequence of rule switching. Results also show that older children have differential posterior cortical activation on “easy” and “hard” tasks that reflects continued refinement of brain networks even in skilled children. These data set the stage for new training programs to foster the development of EF skills in at‐risk children.     

The Implications of Using Group-Based Offenses versus Non-Group-Based Offenses in Peer Deviance Scales

A key distinction from Warr’s research is “groupy” (deviant acts commonly committed with peers) versus “non-groupy” (acts that are likely committed alone) deviance. Drawing on Warr’s important (and underutilized) distinction, this study’s goal is to determine whether measures of perceptual groupy peer deviance more accurately reflect a peer’s true deviance than perceptions of nongroupy peer deviance. Using dyadic data, results demonstrate that perceptions of a peer’s non-groupy deviance are largely inaccurate but perceptions of a peer’s groupy deviance are quite accurate. Despite this discrepancy, groupy and non-groupy perceptual measures function similarly in multivariate models and consistently outperform peer self-reports.     

Subtypes of limbic system dysfunction evoking homicide in limbic (?) Psychotic trigger reaction and temporal lobe epilepsy--evolutionary constraints

Within an evolutionary context two subtypes of limbic system dysfunctioning are compared: (1) the previously proposed limbic psychotic trigger reaction, in which nondrive motivated homicide is triggered by a specific individualized external stimulus, which evokes a brief-lasting active reliving of past (moderately) stressful, frequently repeated ("kindled"?) situations. The brief-lasting out-of-character homicidal episode with flat affect is typically associated with first-time formed or unformed hallucinations of various modalities and with overactivation of the autonomic nervous system. There is no (noticeable) loss of consciousness, enabling the patient's full recall (at times with suicidal attempts) (Pontius, 1981, 1984, 1987). (2) A rare case of homicide during a fugue state with echopraxia in temporal lobe epilepsy is discussed.     

工作记忆训练诱发的神经可塑性——基于系列fMRI实验的脑区分布递减时空模型

工作记忆训练(Working Memory Training, WMT)诱发神经可塑性, 但其具体机制尚不明晰。为探索WMT改变正常人群大脑功能的时空特性, 以“扩展的智力顶额整合理论”和“神经效率假说”为依据, 采用逐层递进的5种方法, 分6个步骤来查究近20年来正常人群WMT的37篇fMRI文献。第一步, 用叙述性综述、频数分析和卡方检验法比较脑区激活模式和脑网络功能连接在WMT前后发生的改变, 发现WMT改变了大脑的5个联合区、7个宏观区和3个子区。其中, 额上回、顶下小叶和扣带回这3个子区各自激活减弱的报道文献数量多于其激活增强的, 且这种差异分别具有统计学意义。第二步, 采用激活似然估计法对其中26篇开展元分析, 发现大脑的3个子区激活减弱水平在WMT前后的差异具有统计学意义, 即额中回(BA6和8)、额上回(BA6)和前扣带回(BA24和32)。第三步, 综合定性和定量分析结果, 提出WMT脑区分布递减时空模型, 产生5个结果和讨论。第四步, 采用非参数检验进一步追踪WMT效应的调节因素, 发现训练的任务类型和时间分别对脑区激活的影响具有统计学意义。第五步, 针对正常人群WMT诱发神经可塑性的时空特性, 得出3个结论：第一, WMT改变了正常人群相应脑区的神经活动, 表现为减弱或增强, 但减弱更加突出, 且更新和较短时间的WMT倾向于诱发较多减弱; 第二, 这些神经活动变化主要发生在额顶叶联合区, 但也包括分别以颞叶、枕叶、扣带回及纹状体为主的联合区, 在一定范围内体现了整脑功能联合。这体现了WMT诱发神经可塑性的空间特性, 且符合“扩展的智力顶额整合理论”; 第三, 额中回、额上回、顶下小叶和扣带回(尤其前扣带回)这4个子区在激活减弱水平上重点展示了WMT神经可塑性的时间特性, 且符合“神经效率假说”, 恰好体现出“聪明的大脑更懒惰”。第六步, 指出WMT诱发神经可塑性的未来研究可能关注脑可塑性中的低活跃性、辨析额中回、额上回、顶下小叶和扣带回(尤其前扣带回)这4个子区在激活减弱水平上体现的时间特性、找寻训练减弱或增强大脑活动的综合性影响因素。     

Frontal lobe deficits in domestic violence offenders

Functional frontal lobe deficits were examined in 38 men who committed domestic violence and 38 control participants. Dependent measures that examine frontal lobe deficits, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (D. A. Grant & E. A. Berg, 1948), the Stroop Color-Word Test (J. R. Stroop, 1935), and Trails B (R. M. Reitan & L. A. Davidson, 1974), were used. The prediction that men who commit domestic violence would perform more poorly on neuropsychological measures related to frontal lobe deficits was only partially supported. A discriminate analysis was significant (p < .05), explaining approximately 7% of the variance; Trails B was the only contributor to that equation. The men who committed battery took significantly longer to complete Trails B than the control participants, suggesting that the men who committed battery may not have been as good as the control participants at inhibiting the competing response and therefore took longer to complete the task. The groups did not significantly differ on the other neuropsychological measures.     

Reflections on A Contagion of Assassination*

ABSTRACT: Intrapsychic factors and events in close interpersonal relationships are supplemented by events in the political climate which can affect a potential assassin so as to lower his defenses against homicidal assassination impulses and facilitate or precipitate an overt act. Such events can include another assassination, a natural death, or an abdication of a president or leader. The “contagious” nature of killing is discussed with respect to previous and recent assassinations. The paper explores the potential effects upon James Earl Ray of President Johnson's “abdication” speech, upon Lee Harvey Oswald of the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, and upon Arthur Bremer of President Nixon's Vietnam escalation speech.     

Is Gayness a Test from Allah? Typologies in Muslim Stances on Homosexuality

The article presents a spectrum of views within Muslim discourse on questions such as: “Is non-hetero predilection congenital and as such created by God?,” “Are non-hetero feelings/actions sinful as such?,” “Should the authorities in Muslim states punish homosexual acts?,” “Should lesbian and gay Muslims marry partners of the opposite gender?” The stances presented are based on texts by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Heba Gamal Kotb, Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, Amreen Jamal and Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle. Stances presented by various Muslim internet sites are also considered. The review is grouped into a four-way typology: strongly traditional; moderately traditional; moderately progressive; and strongly progressive. The second part of the article reflects on how non-hetero Muslims cope theoretically and practically with their religious and sexual identity. The various stances and practices are grouped into six types based on the correlation/tension between “right” (divinely revealed) and “good” (in a human sense): (i) rejecting all kinds of non-hetero identities, feelings and practices; (ii) accepting feelings and identity, but rejecting practice; (iii) unsuccessful efforts to reject practice; (iv) accepting one's identity and practice due to interpretations of the Qur'an and theological reflection; (v) accepting non-hetero practices without regard to religious rules pertaining to this issue; (vi) accepting non-hetero identity and practices combined with (secretly) rejecting Islam due to the question of homosexuality.     

A sociological approach to the history of sociology

Max Weber's “Science as a Vocation” and “Politics as a Vocation” show that irrespective of Weber's insistence on “value-free” sociology, he was a committed critic of his society but failed to explicate his position fully. The assumption of a sociological approach to the history of sociology is that sociology must operate with the concept of a normative society, thus reestablishing continuity with sociology's first hundred years and potentially uniting, in the face of the possibility of our planet's demise, not only sociologists but all people of good will.     

Warrior Chicks: Youthful Aging in a Postfeminist Prosperity Discourse

In a youth‐oriented evangelical congregation where being perceived as “old” might marginalize member involvement and participation, a Hollywood, California congregation's women's ministry, God Chicks, presents aging women as possessing “godly wisdom,” endowing older women with spiritually charged energy, authority, and responsibility for training younger women to live “godly” lives. Ethnographic research and in depth media analysis of the God Chicks ministry reveals a particularly energizing evangelical postfeminist orientation that applies prosperity theology to contemporary challenges of changing women's roles. Specifically, the God Chicks ministry provides “women over forty” with consumer and caretaking strategies for maintaining youthful selves and motivating younger women. A “God Chick” emerges as a compelling, youthful gendered religious identity that expects congregationally committed women to be strong, healthy, and active warriors who fight multiple relational and global humanitarian battles. Overall, this study demonstrates the construction of an innovative postfeminist evangelical identity through the tactical, opportunistic use of theological doctrine by ministry leaders within a particularistic geographic location.     

Effects of normal aging and Alzheimer's disease on emotional memory

Recall is typically better for emotional than for neutral stimuli. This enhancement is believed to rely on limbic regions. Memory is also better for neutral stimuli embedded in an emotional context. The neural substrate supporting this effect has not been thoroughly investigated but may include frontal lobe, as well as limbic circuits. Alzheimer's disease (AD) results in atrophy of limbic structures, whereas normal aging relatively spares limbic regions but affects prefrontal areas. The authors hypothesized that AD would reduce all enhancement effects, whereas aging would disproportionately affect enhancement based on emotional context. The results confirmed the authors' hypotheses: Young and older adults, but not AD patients, showed better memory for emotional versus neutral pictures and words. Older adults and AD patients showed no benefit from emotional context, whereas young adults remembered more items embedded in an emotional versus neutral context.     

Structural Imaging Measures of Brain Aging

During the course of normal aging, biological changes occur in the brain that are associated with changes in cognitive ability. This review presents data from neuroimaging studies of primarily “normal” or healthy brain aging. As such, we focus on research in unimpaired or nondemented older adults, but also include findings from lifespan studies that include younger and middle aged individuals as well as from populations with prodromal or clinically symptomatic disease such as cerebrovascular or Alzheimer’s disease. This review predominantly addresses structural MRI biomarkers, such as volumetric or thickness measures from anatomical images, and measures of white matter injury and integrity respectively from FLAIR or DTI, and includes complementary data from PET and cognitive or clinical testing as appropriate. The findings reveal highly consistent age-related differences in brain structure, particularly frontal lobe and medial temporal regions that are also accompanied by age-related differences in frontal and medial temporal lobe mediated cognitive abilities. Newer findings also suggest that degeneration of specific white matter tracts such as those passing through the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum may also be related to age-related differences in cognitive performance. Interpretation of these findings, however, must be tempered by the fact that comorbid diseases such as cerebrovascular and Alzheimer’s disease also increase in prevalence with advancing age. As such, this review discusses challenges related to interpretation of current theories of cognitive aging in light of the common occurrence of these later-life diseases. Understanding the differences between “Normal” and “Healthy” brain aging and identifying potential modifiable risk factors for brain aging is critical to inform potential treatments to stall or reverse the effects of brain aging and possibly extend cognitive health for our aging society.     

When white collar criminals turn to fatal violence: The impact of narcissism and psychopathy

The present article takes as its point of departure Perri's view, according to whom the impact of personality traits such as psychopathy and narcissism has unduly been omitted in research on white collar criminality. However, this article argues that although such factors have an important role to play in some cases when white collar criminals turn violent in order to prevent the detection of their felonies, they constitute neither the necessary nor the sufficient conditions for white collar criminals to commit murders. This means on the one hand that, although potentially increasing the risk for violence, these traits are not by themselves sufficient as the triggers of violent acts and can function so only under certain social‐contextual circumstances. However, such personality traits are not by themselves necessary, as there can be empirical cases of fraud detection murder committed by white collar criminals lacking them. This position is supported by both a logical analysis of Perri's main arguments and by empirical evidence, consisting of a few real‐life cases of Scandinavian white collar criminals who have “turned red.”     

Hannah Arendt,evil and the eradication of thought

Evil deeds may be committed intentionally or out of madness, but it is those who follow orders that present us with the most complex moral, philosophical and psychological questions. In writing about the banality of evil, Hannah Arendt argues that “in granting pardon, it is the person and not the crime that is forgiven; in rootless evil there is no person left whom one could ever forgive.” Arendt postulates that “being a person” necessarily entails the acts of memory and thought. This paper explores Arendt’s ideas on memory and thought and how these processes can become subverted in the service of a higher order. Clinical material illustrates Whitmer’s idea of dissociation as an “impairment of subjectivity” as distinct from Freud’s view of dissociation as a form of repression. This shift in theoretical perspective sheds new light on our understanding of the totalitarian state of mind, i.e. of the mind of a “nobody”, and the conditions within which evil is committed.     

Perturbation and Lethality as Precursors of Suicide in a Gifted Group

ABSTRACT: Thirty cases, for whom longitudinal personality data were available from 1921 to 1960, were analyzed. All the cases were Caucasian males with high I.Q.'s. Five individuals had committed suicide (all by gunshot), 10 (matched) individuals had died natural deaths from cancer or heart disease, and 15 were still living. A blind clinical analysis was conducted primarily in terms of two guiding concepts, perturbation and lethality, by means of a Meyerian “life chart” and a “psychological autopsy,” respectively. The results indicated that four of the five cases deemed to be most suicidal had, in fact, committed suicide—a chance probability of 1 out of 1,131. The prodromal clues—instability, trauma, and personality controls—are discussed. The role of the “significant other” and the “burning-out” of affect seem to be paramount. Suicide is seen as a discernible part of a life style and as a predictable outcome, in a person of 50, by the time that individual is 30 years old.     

“Cult Commitment” from the Perspective of Former Members: Direct Rewards of Membership versus Dependency Inducing Practices

The experiences of involvement in a deviant “religious” group such as a cult or new religious movement is not well understood, with few qualitative studies having explored the experiences and perspectives of former members of such groups. To gain a better understanding of what compels individuals to be become committed to a cult or new religious movement, the current study is a qualitative investigation into “cult commitment” from the perspective of former members. Seven participants from four different groups were recruited, and in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the participants' accounts of their experience. This study found that participants' “decision” to remain in the group was influenced by both “direct rewards” of membership and levels of control exercised by the group and its leaders.     

Subgroups of autistic children based on social behavior display distinct patterns of brain activity

Two questions were addressed in the present study: (1) Do autistic and normally developing children exhibit regionally specific differences in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity? (2) Do subgroups of autistic children classified according to Wing and Gould's (1979) system which emphasizes degree of social impairment exhibit distinct patterns of EEG activity? Twenty-eight children with autism (5 to 18 years of age) and two groups of normally developing children (one matched on chronological age and the other on receptive language level) participated. EEG was recorded from left and right frontal, temporal, and parietal regions during an alert baseline condition. Compared to normally developing children, autistic children exhibited reduced EEG power in the frontal and temporal regions, but not in the parietal region. Differences were more prominent in the left than the right hemisphere. Furthermore, subgroups of autistic children based on Wing and Gould's system displayed distinct patterns of brain activity. Compared to autistic children classified as “active-but-odd,” “passive” autistic children displayed reduced alpha EEG power in the frontal region.