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Research is increasingly documenting a neurobiological basis to violence. This review takes a neurodevelopmental perspective on the very small group of males who grow up to become persistent violent offenders. After outlining six criteria for what constitutes a neurodevelopmental disorder, the extent to which chronic violence meets these definitional criteria is examined, covering the fields of genetics, structural and functional brain imaging, and neuropsychology. Early health risk factors for violence are then outlined, including birth complications, minor physical anomalies, prenatal smoking and alcohol exposure, poor nutrition, lead exposure, and traumatic brain injury. Persistent adult violence is argued to originate in aberrant temperamental behavior in early childhood, to have a stable developmental trajectory, and to be associated with impaired education, social, and occupational functioning. Taken together, it is argued that chronic adult violence meets criterion for being conceptualized as having neurodevelopmental origins and that an important, but not sole, source of neural maldevelopment lies in prenatal and early postnatal risk factors. This review concludes with a recognition of the sociopolitical context within which a neurodevelopmental perspective on chronic violence sits, together with directions for future research, including whether a neurodevelopmental hypothesis is best applied to reactive as opposed to proactive aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a review article on working memory and Snoezelen. Working memory is conceptualized in executive function, and is the active process by which information is maintained in short-term memory stores and manipulated during performance of complex, goal-directed tasks. Since the disability and working memory are related, so Snoezelen seems to be important for improvement of working memory. It appeares that Snoezlen is suggested to be associated with working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ストレスは種々の修飾を受け、生体反応を引き起こす。短期的なストレスに対しては徐々 に適応していくが、長期の暴露によって抵抗性が低下していく。精神的なストレスは大脳辺縁 系により不快情動を引き起こし、自律神経を失調させる。脳内機構は発達に応じて動的に形成 されるため、幼若期におけるストレスへの暴露はその後のストレス反応や脳機能に影響を与え る。適切な時期に適切な環境下でストレスを軽減することはその後のストレス応答に影響を与 える可能性がある。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ヒトの脳の中で、思索や記憶など高次な機能を営んでいるのは大脳半球であり、特 に大脳皮質が中心的な役割を担っている。 大脳皮質には感覚情報を受け取る感覚投射野と、 受け取った情報を高度に処理する感覚連合野ならびに、運動の指令を組み立てたり調節し たりする運動連合野およびその結果を筋肉に送り出す運動野がある。こうした感覚や運動 と直接領野以外の部位は連合野と呼ばれ、思考や言語、記憶といった高次機能は、さまざ まな皮質領野の間の相互作用によって成立する。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]