Biological Bases of the Aggressive Behaviour

Abstract

The aggressive behaviour is common to all animal species, at least from fish onwards. It can be defined as the execution of actions, from threatening gestures to real attacks - addressed to animals belonging to either the same or a different species. The study of the physiological mechanisms laying behind this behaviour is supported by methods based on either ablation or stimulation of some determined brain structures.This is a really useful approach in order to establish which pathways and nerve centres are involved in the aggressive behaviour (mesencephalon, hypothalamus, amygdala, Papez circuit). [...]