Brain-systems underlying response inhibition in aggression of young people

• Applicant: Dr. Falk Mancke
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400947640

Aggression in young people imposes an immense individual and societal burden. Dysfunction in response inhibition is regarded as one central mechanism of aggression in young people. Response inhibition refers to the ability to suppress irrelevant or interfering impulses or actions. Core brain-systems involved in response inhibition are the dorsomedial frontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. However, the precise role of dysfunction in these brain-systems of response inhibition for the individual clinical profiles of aggressive young people remains unknown. To address this question, this project pursues three goals: First, it will determine if dysfunction in brain-systems of response inhibition affect subtypes of aggression (reactive vs. instrumental aggression) differentially. Second, it will investigate how risk factors for aggression influence brain-systems of response inhibition. Specifically, it will test if an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and early-life maltreatment modulate the relationship between dysfunction in brain-systems of response inhibition and aggression. Third, it will conduct mediational analyses to study how dysfunction in brain-systems of response inhibition impact upon the emergence of aggression in young people. To these ends, behavioral facets of response inhibition will be combined with methods of functional magnetic resonance imaging in the field-leading laboratory for the neurobiology of young people’s aggression led by Prof. James Blair, Centre for Neurobehavioral Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital. The anticipated results will enhance our understanding of how dysfunction in brain-systems of response inhibition affects the individual courses of aggressive young people and could aid in the development of therapies that specifically target this pathogenic mechanism of aggression.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor James Blair, Ph.D.