Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T14:14:43.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Nurture and Nature

Surviving in the Shadows of War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2021

By
Menno Reindert Kruk
Edited by
Richard E. Tremblay
Richard E. Tremblay
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
Get access

Summary

Menno Reindert Kruk was born in 1944 in the Netherlands. He did his PhD on the ‘Origins of Hypothalamic Aggression’ and became President of the International Society for the Study of Aggression. He coordinated Hungarian-Dutch cooperation on ‘Stress and Aggression Interactions’ and an interdisciplinary multicenter research program on the ‘Neuroanatomy and Temporal Structure of Hypothalamic Responses’. His main research focus was the interaction between brain function, hormones, and behavior, with the aim of understanding brain mechanisms during violent behavior. He specifically explored how aggression could be studied using methods from the natural sciences and animal models, first to clarify which hypothalamic neurons mediate attack during electrical stimulation and then to register their activity during social interactions in order to understand ‘pathological’ processes in aggression. The research methods he used included ethological, pharmacological, endocrine, physiological, and mathematical approaches. He developed animal models of functional and pathological aggression and the mathematical tools to describe and analyze the effects of drugs and hormones on behavioral structure and on social interactions between animals. He studied the crucial role of corticosteroid feedback to the brain for the control of aggressive behavior and studied the interactions between the processing of conflict-related stimuli and stress hormones in humans.

Keywords

origins of hypothalamic aggressionstress and aggressionneuroanatomy and behaviorhormones and behaviorbrain mechanisms during violent behavioranimal modelsmathematical toolscorticosteroid feedback to the brain
Type
Chapter
Information
The Science of Violent Behavior Development and Prevention
Contributions of the Second World War Generation
 , pp. 155 - 187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, D. J. (2016 ). Circuit modules linking internal states and social behaviour in flies and mice. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(11), 692–704.Google Scholar
Beevor, A. (2018). Arnhem: The battle for the bridges, 1944. London, England: Random House.Google Scholar
Bertsch, K., Böhnke, R., Kruk, M. R., & Naumann, E. (2009 ). Influence of aggression on information processing in the emotional Stroop task – An event-related potential study. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, 28.Google Scholar
Bertsch, K., Böhnke, R., Kruk, M. R., Richter, S., & Naumann, E. (2011 ). Exogenous cortisol facilitates responses to social threat under high provocation. Hormones and Behavior, 59(4), 428–434.Google Scholar
Bertsch, K., & Herpertz, S. C. (2018). Oxytocin and borderline personality disorder. In Hurleman, R. & Grinevich, V. (Eds.), Behavioral pharmacology of neuropeptides: Oxytocin (pp. 499–514). Stuttgart, Germany: Springer.Google Scholar
Blanchard, R. J., Blanchard, D. C., & Takahashi, L. K. (1977 ). Reflexive fighting in the albino rat: Aggressive or defensive behavior? Aggressive Behavior, 3(2), 145–155.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Böhnke, R., Bertsch, K., Kruk, M. R., Richter, S., & Naumann, E. (2010 ). Exogenous cortisol enhances aggressive behavior in females, but not in males. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(7), 1034–1044.Google Scholar
Bressers, W. M. A., Kruk, M. R., Van Erp, A. M. M., Willekens-Bramer, D. C., Haccou, P., & Meelis, E. (1995 ). Time structure of self-grooming in the rat: Self-facilitation and effects of hypothalamic stimulation and neuropeptides. Behavioral Neuroscience, 109(5), 955–964.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diaz, V., & Lin, D. (2020 ). Neural circuits for coping with social defeat. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 60, 99–107.Google Scholar
Esposito, G., Yoshida, S., Ohnishi, R., Tsuneoka, Y., del Carmen Rostagno, M., Yokota, S., … Shimizu, M. (2013). Infant calming responses during maternal carrying in humans and mice. Current Biology, 23(9), 739–745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falkner, A. L., Dollar, P., Perona, P., Anderson, D. J., & Lin, D. (2014). Decoding ventromedial hypothalamic neural activity during male mouse aggression. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(17), 5971–5984.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haccou, P., Kruk, M. R., Meelis, E., Van Bavel, E. T., Wouterse, K. M., & Meelis, W. (1988 ). Markov models for social interactions: Analysis of electrical stimulation in the hypothalamic aggression area of rats. Animal Behaviour, 36(4), 1145–1163.Google Scholar
Haller, J. (2018 ). The role of the lateral hypothalamus in violent intraspecific aggression – The glucocorticoid deficit hypothesis. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 12, e26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haller, J., Halasz, J., Mikics, E., & Kruk, M. R. (2004 ). Chronic glucocorticoid deficiency‐induced abnormal aggression, autonomic hypoarousal, and social deficit in rats. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 16(6), 550–557.Google Scholar
Hashikawa, K., Hashikawa, Y., Lischinsky, J., & Lin, D. (2018). The neural mechanisms of sexually dimorphic aggressive behaviors. Trends in Genetics, 34(10), 755–776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hong, W., Kim, D.-W., & Anderson, D. J. (2014 ). Antagonistic control of social versus repetitive self-grooming behaviors by separable amygdala neuronal subsets. Cell, 158(6), 1348–1361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hrdy, S. B. (2009 ). Mothers and others. The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Karli, P. (1971 ). Les conduites agressives. La recherche, 18, 1013–1021.Google Scholar
Kempes, M., De Vries, H., Matthys, W., Van Engeland, H., & Van Hooff, J. (2008 ). Differences in cortisol response affect the distinction of observed reactive and proactive aggression in children with aggressive behaviour disorders. Journal of Neural Transmission, 115(1), 139–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, A., Asahina, K., Hoopfer, E., Inagaki, H., Jung, Y., Lee, H., … Anderson, D. J. (2014). Internal states and behavioral decision-making: Toward an integration of emotion and cognition. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 79, 199–210.Google Scholar
Koolhaas, J. M. (1978 ). Hypothalamically induced intraspecific aggressive behaviour in the rat. Experimental Brain Research, 32(3), 365–375.Google Scholar
Kruk, M. R. (1991 ). Ethology and pharmacology of hypothalamic aggression in the rat. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 15(4), 527–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruk, M. R. (2014). Hypothalamic attack: A wonderful artifact or a useful perspective on escalation and pathology in aggression? A viewpoint. Neuroscience of Aggression, 143–188.Google Scholar
Kruk, M. R., Halasz, J., Meelis, W., & Haller, J. (2004). Fast positive feedback between the adrenocortical stress response and a brain mechanism involved in aggressive behavior. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118(5), 1062–1070.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruk, M. R., Haller, J., Meelis, W., & de Kloet, E. R. (2013). Mineralocorticoid receptor blockade during a rat’s first violent encounter inhibits its subsequent propensity for violence. Behavioral Neuroscience, 127(4), 505–514.Google Scholar
Kruk, M. R., & Kruk‐de Bruin, M. (2010 ). Discussions on context, causes and consequences of conflict. Leiden, the Netherlands: The Lorentz Center, Leiden University.Google Scholar
Kruk, M. R., Van Der Laan, C. E., Mos, J., Van der Poel, A. M., Meelis, W., & Olivier, B. (1984 ). Comparison of aggressive behaviour induced by electrical stimulation in the hypothalamus of male and female rats. Progress in Brain Research, 61, 303–314.Google Scholar
Kruk, M. R., Van der Poel, A. M., Meelis, W., Hermans, J., Mostert, P. G., Mos, J., & Lohman, A. H. M. (1983 ). Discriminant analysis of the localization of aggression-inducing electrode placements in the hypothalamus of male rats. Brain Research, 260(1), 61–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruk, M. R., Westphal, K. G. C., Van Erp, A. M. M., van Asperen, J., Cave, B. J., Slater, E., … Haller, J. (1998 ). The hypothalamus: Cross-roads of endocrine and behavioural regulation in grooming and aggression. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 23(2), 163–177.Google Scholar
Lammers, J. H. C. M., Kruk, M. R., Meelis, W., & Van der Poel, A. M. (1988a). Hypothalamic substrates for brain stimulation-induced attack, teeth-chattering and social grooming in the rat. Brain Research, 449(1–2), 311–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lammers, J. H. C. M., Kruk, M. R., Meelis, W., & Van der Poel, A. M. (1988b). Hypothalamic substrates for brain stimulation-induced patterns of locomotion and escape jumps in the rat. Brain Research, 449(1–2), 294–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, D., Boyle, M. P., Dollar, P., Lee, H., Lein, E. S., Perona, P., & Anderson, D. J. (2011 ). Functional identification of an aggression locus in the mouse hypothalamus. Nature, 470(7333), 221–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipp, H. P., & Hunsperger, R. W. (1978 ). Threat, attack and flight elicited by electrical stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus of the marmoset monkey Callithrix jacchus. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 15, 260–293.Google Scholar
Lorenz, K. (1966 ). On aggression. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, and World.Google Scholar
Mikics, É., Barsy, B., & Haller, J. (2007 ). The effect of glucocorticoids on aggressiveness in established colonies of rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 32(2), 160–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mikics, É., Kruk, M. R., & Haller, J. (2004 ). Genomic and non-genomic effects of glucocorticoids on aggressive behavior in male rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29(5), 618–635.Google Scholar
Miskolczi, C., Halász, J., & Mikics, É. (2019 ). Changes in neuroplasticity following early-life social adversities: The possible role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Pediatric Research, 85(2), 225–233.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1971 ). La construction du réel chez l’enfant. Paris, France: Delachaux & Niestle.Google Scholar
Remedios, R., Kennedy, A., Zelikowsky, M., Grewe, B. F., Schnitzer, M. J., & Anderson, D. J. (2017 ). Social behaviour shapes hypothalamic neural ensemble representations of conspecific sex. Nature, 550(7676), 388–392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roeling, T. A. P., Veening, J. G., Kruk, M. R., Peters, J. P. W., Vermelis, M. E. J., & Nieuwenhuys, R. (1994 ). Efferent connections of the hypothalamic ‘aggression area’ in the rat. Neuroscience, 59(4), 1001–1024.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S., & Parsons, T. S. (1962 ). The vertebrate body. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, N. (1951 ). The study of instinct. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tóth, M., Halász, J., Mikics, É., Barsy, B., & Haller, J. (2008 ). Early social deprivation induces disturbed social communication and violent aggression in adulthood. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(4), 849–854.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valenstein, E. S., Cox, V. C., & Kakolewski, J. W. (1970 ). Reexamination of the role of the hypothalamus in motivation. Psychological Review, 77, 16–31.Google Scholar
Van Erp, A. M. M., Kruk, M. R., Semple, D. M., & Verbeet, D. W. P. (1993 ). Initiation of self-grooming in resting rats by local PVH infusion of oxytocin but not α-MSH. Brain Research, 607(1–2), 108–112.Google Scholar
Von Holst, E., & Von Saint Paul, U. (1963 ). On the functional organization of drives. Animal Behaviour, 11, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, K. D. (2002 ). Ostracism: The power of silence. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Yang, C. F., Chiang, M. C., Gray, D. C., Prabhakaran, M., Alvarado, M., Juntti, S. A., … Shah, N. M. (2013 ). Sexually dimorphic neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus govern mating in both sexes and aggression in males. Cell, 153(4), 896–909.Google Scholar
Yang, T., Yang, C. F., Chizari, M. D., Maheswaranathan, N., Burke, K. J. Jr, Borius, M., … Ganguli, S. (2017). Social control of hypothalamus-mediated male aggression. Neuron, 95(4), 955–970.Google Scholar
Yasukochi, G. (1960 ). Emotional responses elicited by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus in cat. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 14(3), 260–267.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×