Scientists explain the “callousness” boys
MOSCOW, 31 Dec — RIA Novosti. Callous unemotional behavior is associated with the volume of gray matter in the anterior insular lobe of the brain, and this relationship is observed only in boys. To such conclusion scientists from Switzerland, Germany and the UK, the results of the study which was published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical.
This behavior (callous and unemotional traits CU) is characterized by a lack of empathy (ability to empathize with the emotional state of another person), disregard other people’s feelings and inability to experience remorse or guilt.
Earlier neuroanatomical studies were conducted only in clinical groups, in particular adolescents with mental disorders, because of which they were characteristic of aggressive behavior.
Scientists from Germany and the UK decided to conduct a similar study among 189 boys and girls with normal mentality. They correlated their susceptibility to emotionless behavior with the volume of gray matter in the brain and found that it is related to sex of the subjects.
“The results showed that callous unemotional behavior is due to a difference in brain structure not only in the examples with mental illness. This relationship was observed only among boys, and it stresses the importance of considering gender as a factor for future research,” scientists say.
In the future they plan to find out what might be the trigger for the development of some of these children have mental illnesses.