Because we are interested in how the brain processes and regulates emotions, we do a lot of work with children who can successfully handle their emotions. We also invite children who struggle with emotion processing and regulation to see whether their brain structure and function looks any different from the children who do not have trouble with emotion processing. So far, there have been several small studies, suggesting that there are differences in brain function and structure in children with aggressive behavior. But, as our MRI section describes, there are challenges when doing research studies with younger participants. For example, it is very hard for children to stay very still while the MRI takes pictures. Because of this, most studies have a very small number of participants, and the results are not as clear. A method called "meta-analysis" helps to summarize the information from all of these very important small studies. Meta-analysis takes the results of many studies and combines them into one big finding. For example, we have combined all small studies done so far in children and teenagers with aggressive behavior.

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Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2016.00016