Studies of Suspicious Trend and Criminal Behaviors

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25350919
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Childhood science (childhood environment science)
• Research Institution: Iwate University
• Principal Investigator: OOKAWARA Kiyoshi 岩手大学, 教育学部, 教授 (40168878)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): AKUTSU Hiromi 岩手大学, 教育学部, 教授 (10374860) ; YAMAMOTO Susumu 岩手大学, 教育学部, 教授 (90552612) ; IWAKI Nobuyoshi 岩手大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (80341593)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 長崎県佐世保市立小6女児同級生殺害事件 / 邪推 / 犯罪行為 / 非行 / 逸脱 / 脳波 / 前部帯状回 / 子ども環境学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In a social interaction, some people are more suspicious of others’ words and behaviors than other people. This suspicion in turn could cause an aggressive behavior to the others. The current study developed a test battery with photo pictures that can measure the extent that people are suspicious of others’ behaviors. In addition, we conducted an electrophysiological experiment, investigating the relationship between the degree of people’s unjustified suspicion measured by our test battery and the activation level of their anterior cingulate cortex reflected in the Error-Related Negativity (ERN), an event-related brain potential. The results revealed that the more people were suspicious of others’ behavior, the lower the amplitude of ERN. The amplitude of ERN reflects the activation of their anterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that individuals with a strong suspicious trend may have functional deficits of self-monitoring.

Free Research Field

教育コミュニケーション工学