Shanker – stress behaviour versus misbehaviour

In our neural lab we were studying the anterior cingulate and when the prefrontal cortex is in control and you look at the images, they’re all blue. And when the child’s in a state of high arousal and very little capacity to control impulses for example, it’s all red. Blue brain referring to when prefrontal is dominant; red brain referring to when limbic system is dominant.  

Looking back at all the work that we did with the families, the one issue that came up more than any other is, “What exactly is this difference, this distinction between misbehaviour and stress behaviour?” So misbehaviour is in fact the blue brain behaviour. And what that means is that the child was capable of acting differently, of making a different choice, that the child knew what he or she was doing and really decided to disregard the possible consequences. Stress behaviour is a red brain behaviour.  And stress behaviour means that the child had very little awareness of what he was doing or why, really did not choose to act the way he did and could not have prevented himself. These are really strong, powerful urges that come up from the limbic system.