The role of prefrontal cortex in psychopathy

Abstract Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by remorseless and impulsive antisocial behavior. Given the signifi cant societal costs of the recidivistic criminal activity associated with the disorder, there is a pressing need for more effective treatment strategies and, hence, a better understanding of the psychobiological mechanisms underlying the disorder. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is likely to play an important role in psychopathy. In particular, the ventromedial and anterior cingulate sectors of PFC are theorized to mediate a number of social and affective decision-making functions that appear to be disrupted in psychopathy. This article provides a critical summary of human neuroimaging data implicating prefrontal dysfunction in psychopathy. A growing body of evidence associates psychopathy with structural and functional abnormalities in ventromedial PFC and anterior cingulate cortex. Although this burgeoning fi eld still faces a number of methodological challenges and outstanding questions that will need to be resolved by future studies, the research to date has established a link between psychopathy and PFC

Social decision-making in highly psychopathic offenders – A systematic literature review

Despite their decisions to frequently manipulate or even callously harm others in real life, highly psychopathic individuals often exhibit judgments comparable to individuals low in psychopathy when examined experimentally. This conundrum has generated a rich body of studies exploring social decision-making in psychopathy, but no systematic review to date has identified decision-making as measured in real-world or simulated social interactions in criminal offender samples assessed for psychopathic traits. Out of 807 studies provided by database searching in August 2022, 16 studies were included in this review and revealed behavioral economic games and paradigms for the assessment of aggressive behavior as the two main approaches to dissect social decision-making in offender samples regarding psychopathy. The specific paradigms exposed the multidimensional structure of both, the psychopathy construct and social decision-making. On one side, the distinct affordances of the social tasks, such as trust, power, or reactions to unfairness and provocation shed light on the inconsistent relations of decisions in experimental situations and psychopathy. On the other side, studies analyzing decision outcomes with respect to the distinct psychopathy subcomponents revealed nuanced interference effects with the social decision tasks. The review encourages a differentiated perspective to the psychopathy construct and social decision-making processes alike

Error-monitoring in antisocial youth with and without callous unemotional traits: an event–related potential study

Antisocial behaviour is a subject of considerable clinical and research interest, especially when it is associated with psychopathy. This thesis aimed to explore the role of outcome monitoring and processing in such behaviour, by examining it in individuals with and without psychopathy. The literature review examined the evidence on psychopathic abnormalities in the processing of reward and punishment. The evidence was reviewed for: an emotional account of such processing; a cognitive/attentional account; and two neural accounts. A review of seventeen studies found evidence for both the emotional processing and cognitive/attentional accounts, and for one of the neural accounts. These three accounts are all compatible with one another, and so the evidence may indicate more than one abnormality in psychopathic reward and punishment processing. The empirical study tested the relations in young people between externalising/antisocial behaviour, psychopathic traits, and the error-related negativity – an event-related potential component related to error-monitoring. 34 antisocial/externalising and 39 control adolescents were tested using a combined flanker/Go/No-Go task. As predicted, the externalising group showed a reduced negativity after errors and, within the externalising group, psychopathic traits were associated with reduced negativity after errors. The critical appraisal noted the challenges of the research process, and considered the academic and clinical implications of the findings

Psychopathic Traits and Endocrine Function as Predictors of Costly and Non-Costly Reactive Aggression

I investigated factors of psychopathy (fearless dominance, self-centered impulsivity) and hormones (testosterone, cortisol, estradiol) in predicting costly and non-costly reactive aggression. I hypothesized that whereas self-centred impulsivity (SCI) would promote costly aggression, fearless dominance (FD) would promote non-costly aggression. Costly aggression was measured using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm and noncostly aggression was measured using one-shot dictator games. In women (n = 97; M age = 19.86 years), greater SCI and lower baseline estradiol predicted greater costly aggression; also, greater FD predicted greater non-costly aggression, particularly among women with lower SCI. In men (n = 104; M age = 20.15 years), psychopathy and endocrine function did not predict costly aggression; however, greater FD and greater increases in testosterone were associated with greater non-costly aggression. Thus, there are sex-specific links between psychopathic personality traits, hormones, and aggressive behaviour, and psychopathic traits and endocrine function predict aggressive behaviour independently of each other

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF A LABORATORY AGGRESSION PARADIGM: A MULTITRAIT-MULTIMETHOD APPROACH

There continues to be doubt regarding the validity of laboratory aggression paradigms. This paper provides an investigation of the construct validity of one prominent aggression task, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP), within a Multitrait Multimethod Matrix (MTMM) methodology. Participants consisted of 151 male undergraduate psychology students with a median age of 19 years old (M=19.45, SD = 2.03). Participants completed self-report and behavioral measures of aggression, impulsivity, and pro-social behavior which were analyzed using a Correlated Trait – Correlated Method Confirmatory Factor Analysis model. Results supported the construct validity of the MTMM model and the TAP. This study provides one of the only a priori tests of construct validity for the TAP and provides a basis for additional validation studies using this methodology

Meta-analyysi antisosiaalisuuden hermostollisesta perustasta

Antisosiaalisuus on suuri ja kallis yhteiskunnallinen ongelma. Antisosiaalisuus on perinnöllistä, kertoen sen elimellisyydestä, ja se yhdistetään usein tunteiden prosessoinnin, toiminnanohjauksen sekä puolustavan ja hyökkäävän aggression järjestelmiin keskushermostossa. Myös peilisolujärjestelmän ja motivaatio- ja oppimisjärjestelmien yhteyksistä antisosiaalisuuteen on näyttöä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on arvioida meta-analyysin keinoin antisosiaalisuuden keskushermostollista perustaa psykiatrisilla potilailla, väkivaltaisilla vangeilla sekä terveillä verrokeilla. Koska tutkimuskenttä on menetelmiltään ja koehenkilöryhmiltään monipuolinen, tarkastellaan myös käytettyjen kuvantamismenetelmien vaikutuksia tuloksiin. Tutkimus toteutettiin meta-analyysinä Activation Likelihood Estimation -menetelmää (ALE) hyödyntäen. Meta-analyysin aineisto kerättiin Scopus-tietokannasta ja se koostui 1990–2021 julkaistuista englanninkielisistä vertaisarvioituista artikkeleista ja kirjojen kappaleista. Valintakriteereiden mukaan meta-analyysiin sisällytettävän tutkimuksen tuli olla käyttänyt fMRI-, MRI-, PET tai SPECT-kuvantamista joko 1) tarkastellakseen aggressiivisen ärsykkeen aiheuttamia aivoaktivaatioita terveissä ihmisissä, 2) verratakseen antisosiaalisen ryhmän aivoja rakenteellisesti tai toiminnallisesti terveiden tai vähemmän antisosiaalisten verrokkien aivoihin, tai 3) löytääkseen hermostollisia korrelaatteja antisosiaalisille piirteille. Meta-analyysiin sisällytettiin valintakriteerien perusteella yhteensä 406 tutkimusta ja 5047 koordinaattia. Antisosiaalisuus linkittyi selvästi mantelitumakkeisiin, hippokampukseen, tyvitumakkeisiin, pihtipoimun etuosaan ja aivokuoren osalta erityisesti dorsolateraaliseen otsalohkoon ja etuotsalohkoon. Nämä alueet liittyvät erityisesti tunnetiedon prosessointiin, motivaatio- ja oppimistoimintoihin, toiminnanohjaukseen ja sosiaaliseen kognitioon. Tulokset olivat yhteneviä niin rikollisilla, psykiatrisilla potilailla kuin terveillä koehenkilöilläkin. Vakavat ja lievemmät muutokset antisosiaalisuudessa näkyivät samoilla aivojen alueilla, joten nämä alueet osallistuvat antisosiaalisen käyttäytymisen lievien ja vakavien muotojen tuottamiseen. Tuloksissa havaittiin eroja tutkimusmenetelmien välillä. PET- ja SPECT-kuvantamisessa korostuivat erityisesti tyvitumakkeet ja toiminnallisessa magneettikuvantamisessa tulosten laaja-alaisuus. Rakenteellisen magneettikuvauksen tulokset olivat tyypillisesti antisosiaalisuuteen liittyviä aivokudoksen tiheyden alenemia. Tulokset tukevat käsitystä useamman neurokognitiivisen järjestelmän muutosten yhteydestä antisosiaalisuuteen. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan antaa myös joitakin suosituksia tulevaan tutkimukseen liittyen niin käytettyihin menetelmiin kuin olennaisimpiin tuleviin tutkimuskohteisiinkin

You Hurt My Feelings: Autonomic and Behavioral Responses to Social Exclusion and the Moderating Effect of Psychopathic Traits

Humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain social connections, and thus experiencing social exclusion is extremely distressing as it threatens this basic human need. Individuals who are socially excluded often respond aggressively, not only towards their ostracizers but also towards innocent bystanders, with ostracism being implicated in extreme acts of violence such as school shootings. However, individual differences in behavior exist within the context of social exclusion as not everyone responds aggressively after being ostracized. Identifying risk factors for retaliatory aggressive behavior following experiences of social exclusion may facilitate the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating such behaviors. One potential correlate of aggression is the coordination of the body’s physiological response to a stressor, as prior research has identified that a dysregulated response by the autonomic nervous system to stressors may predispose individuals to maladaptive behaviors. Furthermore, psychopathic traits which are characterized by deficient emotional regulation processes have been linked to aberrant autonomic stress responses as well as to increased aggressive behaviors, and may potentially moderate people’s behavioral and autonomic responses. Thus, the goals of the current study were to examine the autonomic stress response to an experience of social exclusion, and to identify whether individual differences in this stress response are implicated in subsequent retaliatory aggressive behavior. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate the effects of psychopathic traits on the physiological and aggressive reactions to social exclusion. In the study, 159 participants (61.6% female, mean age = 22.20 years) recruited from a college campus were randomized to either be included or excluded in an online social game while the activity of their autonomic nervous system was recorded. Following the game, participants completed a task during which they were able to aggress against an individual that has either included or excluded them in the prior game. Results showed that excluded participants experienced heightened activity of their sympathetic nervous system compared to included participants, supporting the hypothesis that social exclusion is a distressing experience that evokes physiological changes reminiscent of a stress response. Furthermore, an uncoordinated pattern of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity indicative of a dysregulated stress response predisposed excluded individuals to higher retaliatory aggression. Lastly, while psychopathic traits did not influence the autonomic stress response to the experience of exclusion, they were found to either predispose or protect individuals from aggressive behavior in the context of social exclusion, depending on the specific factors of psychopathy. The current study thus identified biological and personality factors that may influence how individuals respond to the distressing experience of social exclusion and highlighted the importance of adopting a multi-system approach in understanding the correlates of aggression. Uncovering the etiological basis for aggressive behavior following ostracism can inform targeted interventions for individuals at high risk for aggression

Manipulating the perceived shape and color of a virtual limb can modulate pain responses

Changes in body representation may affect pain perception. The effect of a distorted body image, such as the telescoping effect in amputee patients, on pain perception, is unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether distorting an embodied virtual arm in virtual reality (simulating the telescoping effect in amputees) modulated pain perception and anticipatory responses to pain in healthy participants. Twenty-seven right-handed participants were immersed in virtual reality and the virtual arm was shown with three different levels of distortion with a virtual threatening stimulus either approaching or contacting the virtual hand. We evaluated pain/discomfort ratings, ownership, and skin conductance responses (SCRs) after each condition. Viewing a distorted virtual arm enhances the SCR to a threatening event with respect to viewing a normal control arm, but when viewing a reddened-distorted virtual arm, SCR was comparatively reduced in response to the threat. There was a positive relationship between the level of ownership over the distorted and reddened-distorted virtual arms with the level of pain/discomfort, but not in the normal control arm. Contact with the threatening stimulus significantly enhances SCR and pain/discomfort, while reduced SCR and pain/discomfort were seen in the simulated-contact condition. These results provide further evidence of a bi-directional link between body image and pain perception