NCJ Number
209060
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: March-April 2005 Pages: 363-373
Date Published
March 2005
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews the evidence that subcortical visual processing may be responsible for quick, unthinking violence.
Abstract
A quick, unthinking violent reaction to stimuli depends on fast visual processing whereby the stimuli is evaluated by the crude amygdalar visual processing system, bypassing the more detailed and accurate cortical parieto-occipital evaluation of the stimuli. This type of quick and crude visual processing system was relied on by warring hunter-gatherer tribespeople who relied on quick visual processing and reaction as a survival technique. In today’s society, most visual processing takes a bit longer as it passes through the cortical parieto-occipital processing mechanism, which provides a more detailed assessment of the stimuli, thereby slowing down any response to the stimuli, violent or otherwise. New neuroscientific data (fMRI, ERPS) is now exploring the possibility that the bypassing of the cortical parieto-occipital processing by the amygdalar is occurring in modern day society under conditions that are fearful or as a result of parieto-occipital dysfunctions. Amygdalar processing mechanisms have been seen in individuals suffering from dyslexia and in pre-literates. Interestingly, low or absent literacy skills have been linked with greater than average rates of aggression. Subtle parieto-occipital dysfunction has also been seen in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and in early HIV infection. Based on the research reviewed here, it is suggested that a simple triage-like marker, called the Neolithic face pattern (NF), be proposed for developmental, neuropathological, or ecocultural conditions that lead to the subcortical visual processing. Appendixes, references