Systematic meta-analysis of the role effect of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala in criminal behavior

• Main Author: Lau, Glory Siew Tee
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2015
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/12157/1/Systematic%20meta-analysis%20of%20the%20role%20effect%20of%20anterior%20cingulate%20cortex%20%28ACC%29%20and%20amygdala%20in%20criminal%20behavior%20%2824pgs%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/12157/8/Glory%20Lau%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/12157/

Study of brain malfunctioning effects on the behavior of criminal had been carried out ever since 18th century. There are many region of interest of the brain considered to play this important role. Two types of brain regions were used to study in this project, which were anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala. ACC functions as recognizing faults or deficits within certain standards, making expectations and predictions before carry out a task and regulating emotions, while amygdala function in emotional processing such as fear, anger and happiness. Meta-analysis method was used to study the role effect of ACC and amygdala towards the behavior of criminals in terms of antisocial and aggressiveness. This method was generally used because it was a statistical technique that can combine segregated independent studies to come out with one stable summarization without prejudices and the net benefit summative over included studies can be estimated. As a result, rostral ACC with -1.44 of effect size and right amygdala with -2.35 of effect size had indicated a higher level of effects compared to other brain regions. In summary, different regions of ACC and amygdala had indicated different level of effects towards the behavior of a criminal, which will be discussed further in this project, as well as for future treatment and implementation.