Laakso et al. (
64) observed reductions in volume of the dorsolateral, medial frontal, and orbitofrontal cortices in subjects with ASPD. However, after controlling for substance use and education, they concluded that the observed volume deficits were related more to alcoholism or differences in education rather than the diagnosis of ASPD. Other research does suggest reduced prefrontal volumes in ASPD, after controlling for effects of substance use (
60,
65–
67). ASPD subjects have also been reported to have smaller temporal lobes (
68,
69), smaller whole brain volumes (
68), larger putamen volumes (
68), larger occipital (
66) and parietal lobes (
66), larger cerebellum volumes (
66), decreased volumes in specific areas of the cingulate cortex, insula, and postcentral gyri (
66), and cortical thinning in medial frontal cortices (
70). However, other studies (
71) found no differences in gray matter volumes between offenders with ASPD without psychopathy and healthy comparison subjects. Based on animal models, reactive aggression is part of a progressive response to threat mediated by a threat system that involves the amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the periaqueductal gray. This system is regulated by medial, orbital, and inferior frontal cortices (
59,
72). According to this model, individuals with high reactive aggression should show increased amygdala responses to emotional provocation and reduced frontal emotional regulatory activity (
59). In support of this model, multiple studies have reported decreased activity in the frontal lobes in individuals with antisocial and violent behavior, particularly in the OFC, ACC, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (
73–
79). Raine et al. (
80) observed that impulsive murderers had lower left and right prefrontal metabolism with PET, higher right hemisphere subcortical metabolism, and lower right hemisphere prefrontal/subcortical ratios. Goethals et al. showed that patients with BPD or ASPD who had impulsive behavior had low perfusion in the right prefrontal and temporal cortex, but they found no differences in brain perfusion between BPD and ASPD patients (
81). The data also suggest decreased serotonergic responsiveness in ASPD compared with healthy volunteers in OFC, adjacent ventral medial frontal cortex, and cingulate cortex (
27).
Some of the studies suggest that at least part of the neural abnormalities found in ASPD subjects may not be specific to this disorder but rather associated with aggressive traits that are associated with a tendency to violent behavior. For example, Barkataki et al. (
82) found that both violent ASPD subjects and violent schizophrenia patients, but not nonviolent schizophrenia patients, showed reduced thalamic activity in association with modulation of inhibition in a go/no-go task. However, another study by the same group suggests that, although there are neural alterations related to violence found both in violent schizophrenic and violent ASPD patients in occipital and temporal regions, there are interesting differences specific to ASPD and schizophrenia, respectively. Specifically, they found that the violent ASPD subjects showed attenuated thalamic-striatal activity during later periods in a “threat of electric shock” task, whereas in the violent schizophrenic subjects there was hyperactivation in the same areas (
83). This suggests that although there is a shared biological deficit, violent behaviors may arise from different mechanisms according to the specific disorder.