The DOI matches its Crossref record; 70 of the 71 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Neurobiology of Impulsive Aggression
Open accessAbstract
This selective review provides a model of the neurobiology of impulsive aggression from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. It is argued that prototypical cases of impulsive aggression, those associated with anger, involve the recruitment of the acute threat response system structures; that is, the amygdala, hypothalamus, and periaqueductal gray. It is argued that whether the recruitment of these structures results in impulsive aggression or not reflects the functional roles of ventromedial frontal cortex and dorsomedial frontal and anterior insula cortex in response selection. It is also argued that impulsive aggression may occur because of impaired decision making. The aggression may not be accompanied by anger, but it will reflect disrupted evaluation of the rewards/benefits of the action.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In addition, the insula has also been reported to mediate the states of anger, aggression, and social emotion [62,[67][68][69].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [68]
Citations
Cites
Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions
Panksepp, J. (1998) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195096736.001.0001 · Cited by 4,428
Delay of gratification in children.
Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.2658056 · Cited by 3,397
The neural basis of economic decision-making in the Ultimatum Game.
Sanfey, A. G., Rilling, J. K., Aronson, J. A., Nystrom, L. E., & Cohen, J. D. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1082976 · Cited by 3,375
Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Etkin, A., Egner, T., & Kalisch, R. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.11.004 · Cited by 3,059 · cited 1×
“The dominant view is that the vmPFC inhibits (‘‘puts the brakes on’’) the aggressive responses mediated by the amygdala, hypothalamus, and PAG ( Nelson and Trainor 2007; Schiller and Delgado 2010; Diekhof et al. 2011; Etkin et al. 2011).”
BackgroundSelf-Control in Decision-Making Involves Modulation of the vmPFC Valuation System
Hare, T. A., Camerer, C. F., & Rangel, A. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1168450 · Cited by 1,928
Cognitive Reappraisal of Emotion: A Meta-Analysis of Human Neuroimaging Studies
Buhle, J. T., Silvers, J. A., Wager, T. D., Lopez, R., Onyemekwu, C., Kober, H., Weber, J., & Ochsner, K. N. (2014) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bht154 · Cited by 1,896 · cited 1×
“For example, the fMRI literature indicates that the vmPFC is not involved in emotional regulation (Buhle et al. 2014).”
BackgroundAmygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal function in PTSD
SHIN, L. M., RAUCH, S. L., & PITMAN, R. K. (2006) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1364.007 · Cited by 1,203
Neural mechanisms of aggression
Nelson, R. J., & Trainor, B. C. (2007) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2174 · Cited by 1,046
Medial prefrontal cortex as an action-outcome predictor
Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2921 · Cited by 1,000
Dodge, K. A., Lochman, J. E., Harnish, J. D., Bates, J. E., & al, E. (1997) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.106.1.37 · Cited by 975
When fear is near: threat imminence elicits prefrontal periaqueductal gray shifts in humans.
Mobbs, D., Petrovic, P., Marchant, J. L., Hassabis, D., Weiskopf, N., Seymour, B., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1144298 · Cited by 951
Is it time to pull the plug on hostile versus instrumental aggression dichotomy?
Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.1.273 · Cited by 918
Functional identification of an aggression locus in the mouse hypothalamus
Lin, D., Boyle, M. P., Dollar, P., Lee, H., Lein, E. S., Perona, P., & Anderson, D. J. (2011) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09736 · Cited by 914
Measures of impulsivity in cigarette smokers and non-smokers
Mitchell, S. H. (1999) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/pl00005491 · Cited by 911
Impaired social response reversal: A case of `acquired sociopathy'
Blair, J. (2000) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/123.6.1122 · Cited by 905
Taylor, S. P. (1967) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1967.tb01430.x · Cited by 870
Blair, J. (2001) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.71.6.727 · Cited by 710
Frontal lobe injuries, violence, and aggression: A report of the Vietnam Head Injury Study
Grafman, J., Schwab, K., Warden, D., Pridgen, A., Brown, H. R., & Salazar, A. M. (1996) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.46.5.1231 · Cited by 696
The neural mechanisms of inter-temporal decision-making: understanding variability
Peters, J., & Büchel, C. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.03.002 · Cited by 693
The neurobiology of psychopathic traits in youths
Blair, J. (2013) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3577 · Cited by 666
The roles of orbital frontal cortex in the modulation of antisocial behavior
Blair, J. (2004) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0278-2626(03)00276-8 · Cited by 635
The Rupture and Repair of Cooperation in Borderline Personality Disorder
King‐Casas, B., Sharp, C., Lomax-Bream, L., Lohrenz, T. M., Fonagy, P., & Montague, P. R. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1156902 · Cited by 632
Amygdala and Orbitofrontal Reactivity to Social Threat in Individuals with Impulsive Aggression
Coccaro, E. F., McCloskey, M. S., Fitzgerald, D. A., & Phan, K. L. (2007) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.08.024 · Cited by 591
Tabibnia, G., Satpute, A. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02091.x · Cited by 552
Evidence of abnormal amygdala functioning in borderline personality disorder: a functional MRI study
Herpertz, S. C., Dietrich, T., Wenning, B., Krings, T., Erberich, S. G., Willmes, K., Thron, A. K., & Saß, H. (2001) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01075-7 · Cited by 503
Orbitofrontal cortex, decision-making and drug addiction
Schoenbaum, G., Roesch, M. R., & Stalnaker, T. A. (2006) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2005.12.006 · Cited by 499
From threat to fear: the neural organization of defensive fear systems in humans.
Mobbs, D., Marchant, J. L., Hassabis, D., Seymour, B., Tan, G., Gray, M., Petrovic, P., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2009) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2378-09.2009 · Cited by 476
Dissociable neural representations of future reward magnitude and delay during temporal discounting
Ballard, K., & Knutson, B. D. (2008) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.11.004 · Cited by 471
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for the Regulation of Amygdala Activity in Humans
Motzkin, J. C., Philippi, C. L., Wolf, R. C., Baskaya, M. K., & Koenigs, M. (2015) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.02.014 · Cited by 454
Young, S. E., Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Willcutt, E. G., Corley, R. P., Haberstick, B. C., & Hewitt, J. K. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014657 · Cited by 420
Fear is only as deep as the mind allows
Diekhof, E. K., Geier, K., Falkai, P., & Gruber, O. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.073 · Cited by 413
Orbitofrontal cortex, associative learning and expectancies
Schoenbaum, G., & Roesch, M. (2005) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.07.018 · Cited by 404
Posttraumatic stress disorder: the role of medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala.
Koenigs, M., & Grafman, J. (2009) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/1073858409333072 · Cited by 368
Finger, E. C., Marsh, A. A., Mitchell, D. G., Reid, M. E., Sims, C., Budhani, S., Kosson, D. S., Chen, G., Towbin, K. E., Leibenluft, E., et al. (2008) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.65.5.586 · Cited by 365
Neural activity associated with monitoring the oscillating threat value of a tarantula
Mobbs, D., Yu, R., Rowe, J. B., Eich, H., FeldmanHall, O., & Dalgleish, T. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1009076107 · Cited by 332
Gregg, T. R., & Siegel, A. (2001) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0278-5846(00)00150-0 · Cited by 315
Overlapping neural systems mediating extinction, reversal and regulation of fear
Schiller, D., & Delgado, M. R. (2010) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.04.002 · Cited by 294
Cherek, D. R., Moeller, F. G., Dougherty, D. M., & Rhoades, H. M. (1997) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(96)00426-x · Cited by 288
Lozier, L. M., Cardinale, E. M., VanMeter, J. W., & Marsh, A. A. (2014) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.4540 · Cited by 271
Finger, E. C., Marsh, A. A., Blair, K. S., Reid, M. E., Sims, C., Ng, P., Pine, D. S., & Blair, J. (2010) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.10010129 · Cited by 261
Neuroimaging of psychopathy and antisocial behavior: a targeted review
Blair, R. J. R. (2010) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-009-0086-x · Cited by 257
Beyond revenge: Neural and genetic bases of altruistic punishment
Strobel, A., Zimmermann, J., Schmitz, A., Reuter, M., Lis, S., Windmann, S., & Kirsch, P. (2010) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.051 · Cited by 245
Myopic Discounting of Future Rewards after Medial Orbitofrontal Damage in Humans
Sellitto, M., Ciaramelli, E., & di Pellegrino, G. (2010) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2516-10.2010 · Cited by 237
Does the orbitofrontal cortex signal value?
Schoenbaum, G., Takahashi, Y., Liu, T., & McDannald, M. A. (2011) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06210.x · Cited by 232
Potentiated amygdala response to repeated emotional pictures in borderline personality disorder
Hazlett, E. A., Zhang, J., New, A. S., Zelmanova, Y., Goldstein, K. E., Haznedar, M. M., Meyerson, D., Goodman, M., Siever, L. J., & Chu, K.-W. (2012) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.03.027 · Cited by 186
Izquierdo, A., Suda, R. K., & Murray, E. A. (2005) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1232-05.2005 · Cited by 186
New, A. S., Hazlett, E. A., Newmark, R. E., Zhang, J., Triebwasser, J., Meyerson, D. A., Lazarus, S. A., Trisdorfer, R., Goldstein, K. E., Goodman, M. S., et al. (2009) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.07.015 · Cited by 176
The neural correlates of the affective response to unreciprocated cooperation
Rilling, J. K., Goldsmith, D. R., Glenn, A. L., Jairam, M. R., Elfenbein, H. A., Dagenais, J. E., Murdock, C. D., & Pagnoni, G. (2008) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.033 · Cited by 175
Corradi‐Dell’Acqua, C., Civai, C., Rumiati, R. I., & Fink, G. R. (2012) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nss014 · Cited by 169
Value normalization in decision making: theory and evidence
Rangel, A., & Clithero, J. A. (2012) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.conb.2012.07.011 · Cited by 165
White, S. F., Pope, K., Sinclair, S., Fowler, K. A., Brislin, S. J., Williams, W. C., Pine, D. S., & Blair, J. (2013) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12060840 · Cited by 159
Cherek, D. R., Moeller, F. G., Schnapp, W. B., & Dougherty, D. M. (1997) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(96)00059-5 · Cited by 151
Risky Decisions and Their Consequences: Neural Processing by Boys with Antisocial Substance Disorder
Crowley, T. J., Dalwani, M. S., Mikulich-Gilbertson, S. K., Du, Y. P., Lejuez, C. W., Raymond, K. M., & Banich, M. T. (2010) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012835 · Cited by 142
Juvenile Maladaptive Aggression
Connor, D. F., Carlson, G. A., Chang, K., Daniolos, P. T., Ferziger, R., Findling, R. L., Hutchinson, J. G., Malone, R. P., Halperin, J. M., Plattner, B., et al. (2006) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.v67n0516 · Cited by 134
The neural signature of escalating frustration in humans
Yu, R., Mobbs, D., Seymour, B., Rowe, J. B., & Calder, A. J. (2014) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2014.02.013 · Cited by 122
Neural correlates of response reversal: Considering acquisition
Budhani, S., Marsh, A. A., Pine, D. S., & Blair, J. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.08.060 · Cited by 120
The structure of reinforcement-learning mechanisms in the human brain
O’Doherty, J. P., Lee, S. W., & McNamee, D. (2014) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2014.10.004 · Cited by 106
Veit, R., Lotze, M., Sewing, S., Missenhardt, H., Gaber, T. J., & Birbaumer, N. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.040 · Cited by 98
Punishing unfairness: Rewarding or the organization of a reactively aggressive response?
White, S. F., Brislin, S. J., Sinclair, S., & Blair, J. (2013) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.22316 · Cited by 79
Looming animate and inanimate threats: The response of the amygdala and periaqueductal gray
Coker-Appiah, D. S., White, S. F., Clanton, R., Yang, J., Martin, A., & Blair, R. J. R. (2013) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2013.839480 · Cited by 73
Strong limbic and weak frontal activation to aggressive stimuli in spouse abusers
Lee, T. M. C., Chan, S. C., & Raine, A. (2008) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2008.46 · Cited by 71
Thomas, L. A., Kim, P., Bones, B. L., Hinton, K. E., Milch, H. S., Reynolds, R. C., Adleman, N. E., Marsh, A. A., Blair, J., Pine, D. S., et al. (2013) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2013.04.007 · Cited by 57
White, S. F., Brislin, S. J., Meffert, H., Sinclair, S., & Blair, J. (2013) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi.2013.27.1.99 · Cited by 55
Hyperresponsivity to Threat Stimuli in Domestic Violence Offenders
Lee, T. M. C., Chan, S.-C., & Raine, A. (2009) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.08m04143 · Cited by 53
Reward: empirical contribution. Temporal discounting and conduct disorder in adolescents
White, S. F., Clanton, R., Brislin, S. J., Meffert, H., Hwang, S., Sinclair, S., & Blair, R. J. R. (2014) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi.2014.28.1.5 · Cited by 46
Bachevalier, J., Machado, C. J., & Kazama, A. M. (2011) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06211.x · Cited by 39
Choe, D. E., Shaw, D. S., & Forbes, E. E. (2014) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12316 · Cited by 39
O’Doherty, J. P. (2012) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08074.x · Cited by 37
Disruptive Behavior Disorders: Taking an RDoC(ish) Approach
Blair, J., White, S. F., Meffert, H., & Hwang, S. (2013) · Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · doi:10.1007/7854_2013_247 · Cited by 30
Gillihan, S. J., Xia, C., Padon, A. A., Heberlein, A. S., Farah, M. J., & Fellows, L. K. (2010) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsq026 · Cited by 26
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Two types of aggression in human evolution.
Wrangham, R. W. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1713611115 · Cited by 410
Pediatric Irritability: A Systems Neuroscience Approach
Leibenluft, E. (2017) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2017.02.002 · Cited by 179
The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition
Zhang, R., Deng, H., & Xiao, X. (2024) · Neuroscience Bulletin · doi:10.1007/s12264-024-01211-4 · Cited by 158
Andrewes, D. G., & Jenkins, L. M. (2019) · Neuropsychology Review · doi:10.1007/s11065-019-09398-4 · Cited by 169
Blair, J. (2018) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2017.0155 · Cited by 124
Metadata
- Authors
- Blair, R. J. R.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health
- Venue
- Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-02
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4-9
- ISSN
- 1044-5463 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-8992
- PMC
- PMC4779272
- OpenAlex
- W2245990605
- Cited by
- 235
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 5.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (1-ZIA-MH002860, 1‑ZIA‑MH002860‑08, ZIAMH002860)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Keywords
- impulsive aggression, neurobiology of aggression, amygdala, hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, response selection, decision-making, reward evaluation, anger
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Brain, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Neurobiology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review