Critical Review of Glenn, A. L., Raine, A.,Yaralian, P. S. and Yang, Y. (2010). Increased Volume of the Striatum in Psychopathic Individuals.
Critical Review of Glenn, A. L., Raine, A.,Yaralian, P. S. and Yang, Y. (2010). Increased Volume of the Striatum in Psychopathic Individuals.
Glenn, Raine, Yaralian and Yang (2010) in an effort to explore an area containing a limited amount of literature, conducted a study examining the volume of the Corpus Striatum in psychopathic individuals when compared with the control group.
According to existent literature the Striatum is associated to traits which are prevalent in psychopathy, these include reward seeking and impulsivity ( Glenn and Yang, 2012). However the Striatum is not only associated with reward seeking and impulsivity, the existence of vast literature supporting the association of the striatum and stimulus-reinforcement learning is common knowledge and research exploring their relationship can easily be found (Marschner et. Al, 2005).These literature produce results which indicate that indicate psychopathic individuals display impairment in stimulus –reinforcement learning (Newman and Kosson, 1986).
Regardless of the existing literature, which points towards a relationship between the Corpus Striatum and Psychopathy, scientific research analysing the structure of this specific area of the brain and its association with psychotic behaviour is close to non-existent (Glenn et al., 2010). However, this did discourage the authors, who hypothesized that there would be a significant relationship between the size of the Striatum and Psychopathy. The directionality cannot be asserted as different areas of the brain associated with psychopathy, present different structural changes. Therefore the hypothesis must be two tailed due to the existence of opposing data. Data supporting that some parts of the brain may be larger in individuals displaying antisocial behaviour (Tiihonen et. al, 2008). However, the reverse can also be found, with the majority of brain imaging studies demonstrating reduced structure of functioning of certain parts of the brain in
Glenn, Raine, Yaralian and Yang (2010) in an effort to explore an area containing a limited amount of literature, conducted a study examining the volume of the Corpus Striatum in psychopathic individuals when compared with the control group.
According to existent literature the Striatum is associated to traits which are prevalent in psychopathy, these include reward seeking and impulsivity ( Glenn and Yang, 2012). However the Striatum is not only associated with reward seeking and impulsivity, the existence of vast literature supporting the association of the striatum and stimulus-reinforcement learning is common knowledge and research exploring their relationship can easily be found (Marschner et. Al, 2005).These literature produce results which indicate that indicate psychopathic individuals display impairment in stimulus –reinforcement learning (Newman and Kosson, 1986).
Regardless of the existing literature, which points towards a relationship between the Corpus Striatum and Psychopathy, scientific research analysing the structure of this specific area of the brain and its association with psychotic behaviour is close to non-existent (Glenn et al., 2010). However, this did discourage the authors, who hypothesized that there would be a significant relationship between the size of the Striatum and Psychopathy. The directionality cannot be asserted as different areas of the brain associated with psychopathy, present different structural changes. Therefore the hypothesis must be two tailed due to the existence of opposing data. Data supporting that some parts of the brain may be larger in individuals displaying antisocial behaviour (Tiihonen et. al, 2008). However, the reverse can also be found, with the majority of brain imaging studies demonstrating reduced structure of functioning of certain parts of the brain in