title: Reduced cortical inhibition in violent offenders: a study with transcranial magnetic stimulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aggression and violent behaviour are often regarded as a threat to society. Therefore, understanding violent behaviour has high social relevance. We performed a study with transcranial magnetic stimulation on a sample of violent offenders in order to measure cortical inhibition in the motor neuron system that is part of the frontal cortex.
  
  
  METHODS
  To investigate intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation, we conducted paired-pulse stimulation according to the technique of Kujirai and his group (see Method). The investigation sample comprised 62 right-handers: 32 prisoners who had committed severe violent crimes and 30 controls with no history of violence. All subjects were male and matched for age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the paired-pulse paradigm with interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 1-15 ms, a reduced cortical inhibition (ISI: 3 ms) was found in the left cortex of violent offenders compared with control subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings corroborate the hypothesis of inhibition deficits and frontal cortex dysfunction in violent offenders when compared with non-violent control subjects.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Neurocentre, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg (Saar), Germany. florence.philipp-wiegmann@uks.eu
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Philipp-Wiegmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rösler
authors.forename: Konstanze D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Römer
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumgart
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Retz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D057237:Criminals; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult