Relationship between attitudinal hostility and P300 latencies.

1. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether components of the P300 were related to aggression in a normal population. 2. Event-related potentials were recorded from midline sites during a standard pure tone auditory oddball task. 3. Findings indicated significantly prolonged P300 latencies to target stimuli in subjects with higher total aggression and attitudinal hostility scores on the BDHI. 4. The relationship between P300 latency and aggression extends findings in specifically aggressive populations. P300 amplitudes may only be reduced in samples displaying violent or assaultive behaviour.