Does violence have cognitive correlates?

The relationship between cognitive function and violence in 76 remanded prisoners, without formal psychiatric illness, was investigated. The violent group tended to be of slightly lower general ability than the non-violent group, but not abnormally so in relation to the general population; no relationship was found between specific patterns of cognitive functioning and violence. The violent group reported significantly higher levels of neurotic symptoms than the non-violent group, and were more socially deviant. To a small extent, general intelligence (reasoning ability), in interaction with many other factors, may be related to a propensity for violent behaviour, but no particular aspect of cortical functioning seems to be related to violence.