Neuroanatomy and Crime – Structured Study Notes

Neuroanatomy Overview

  • Neuroanatomy = the study of how the brain is physically structured and how different structures relate to behavior (including criminal behaviour).
  • Human brain reflects an evolutionary layering: older regions shared with non-human species; newer regions unique or expanded in humans.

Evolutionary Development of the Brain

  • Brain has been changing for millions of years, with especially rapid expansion in the last couple of hundred thousand years.
  • Structural “age” of regions (oldest ➜ newest):
    1. Hindbrain (brainstem & cerebellum)
    2. Midbrain
    3. Forebrain (cerebrum / cerebral cortex)

Major Brain Divisions & Core Functions

  • Hindbrain
    • Ancient, highly conserved across species.
    • Regulates basic survival processes: breathing, heartbeat, blood circulation, gross motor coordination.
  • Midbrain
    • Evolutionarily younger than hindbrain, older than forebrain.
    • Acts as relay station between spinal cord/autonomic nervous system and forebrain.
    • Primary job: transmit auditory & visual information.
  • Forebrain (Cerebrum / Cortex)
    • Newest, most elaborate; ≈ 80%80\% of total brain mass (“grey matter”).
    • Underpins superior human intelligence.
    • Main focus for criminological neuro-research.

Hemispheric Specialisation (with caveats)

  • Cerebrum split into left & right hemispheres; connected by the nerve bundle corpus callosum.
  • General (non-absolute) tendencies:
    • Right hemisphere → creativity, spatial processing/manipulation.
    • Left hemisphere → language, logical reasoning.
  • Plasticity principle: If one area is damaged, other areas can partly compensate; therefore, functional boundaries are flexible rather than rigid.

Four Cerebral Lobes per Hemisphere

  1. Frontal Lobe (front)
  2. Parietal Lobe (upper middle)
  3. Occipital Lobe (rear)
  4. Temporal Lobe (side)

(Table/diagram referenced in lecture lists each lobe’s function; only verbal summary provided in transcript.)

Frontal Lobe – Prime Relevance to Crime

  • Houses capacities most distinctively human: abstract thought, complex reasoning, forward planning, problem-solving, speech, emotional modulation.
  • Special sub-region: Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) at the very front.
    • Often labelled the brain’s “executive”.
    • Governs “executive functions”: initiating, inhibiting, and switching behaviours to stay in line with long-term goals & social norms.
    • Core for sustaining socially appropriate behaviour.
  • Because criminal acts often involve failure of impulse control, moral reasoning, or long-term planning, the PFC is intensely studied in criminological neuroscience.

Executive Functions Detailed

  • Inhibition of inappropriate impulses.
  • Working memory & mental flexibility.
  • Goal formulation, strategy selection, monitoring, and correction (feedback loops).
  • Emotional regulation & empathy generation.

Plasticity & Compensation

  • Damage or developmental deficits in one region can be offset (partially) by neural re-organisation.
  • Implies that straightforward brain-behaviour links require cautious interpretation.

Research Emphasis

  • Though all lobes have been “implicated” in some facets of criminality (e.g.
    • Temporal → language aggression links,
    • Parietal → attention & body-space perception,
    • Occipital → rare visual processing anomalies),
      the frontal lobe/PFC remains the central target due to its executive, moral, and inhibitory roles.