@article{ref1,
title="Altered cerebellar-amygdala connectivity in violent offenders: a resting-state fMRI study",
journal="Neuroscience letters",
year="2015",
author="Leutgeb, Verena and Wabnegger, Albert and Leitner, Mario and Zussner, Thomas and Scharmüller, Wilfried and Klug, Doris and Schienle, Anne",
volume="610",
number="",
pages="160-164",
abstract="It has repeatedly been reported, that there are differences in grey matter volume (GMV) between violent offenders and non-violent controls. However, it remains unclear, if structural brain abnormalities influence resting-state functional connectivity (RS-fc) between brain regions. Therefore, in the present investigation, 31 male high-risk violent prisoners were compared to 30 non-criminal controls with respect to RS-fc between brain areas. Seed regions for resting-state analysis were selected based on GMV differences between the two groups. Overall, inmates had more GMV in the cerebellum than controls and revealed higher RS-fc between the cerebellum and the amygdala. In contrast, controls relative to prisoners showed higher RS-fc between the cerebellum and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In addition, controls showed more GMV in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Inmates relative to controls had higher RS-fc within the DLPFC. <br><br>RESULTS are discussed with respect to cerebellar contributions to a brain network underlying moral behavior and violence. Enhanced cerebellar-amygdala connectivity in violent offenders might reflect alterations in the processing of moral emotions. Heightened functional connectivity between cerebellar hemispheres and the OFC in controls could be a correlate of enhanced emotion regulation capacities. Higher functional intra-DLPFC connectivity in violent offenders might represent an effort to regulate emotions.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0304-3940",
doi="10.1016/j.neulet.2015.10.063",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2015.10.063"
}