As Far as the Eye Can See: Relationship between Psychopathic Traits and Pupil Response to Affective Stimuli

Psychopathic individuals show a range of affective processing deficits, typically associated with the interpersonal/affective component of psychopathy. However, previous research has been inconsistent as to whether psychopathy, within both offender and community populations, is associated with deficient autonomic responses to the simple presentation of affective stimuli. Changes in pupil diameter occur in response to emotionally arousing stimuli and can be used as an objective indicator of physiological reactivity to emotion. This study used pupillometry to explore whether psychopathic traits within a community sample were associated with hypo-responsivity to the affective content of stimuli. Pupil activity was recorded for 102 adult (52 female) community participants in response to affective (both negative and positive affect) and affectively neutral stimuli, that included images of scenes, static facial expressions, dynamic facial expressions and sound-clips. Psychopathic traits were measured using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Pupil diameter was larger in response to negative stimuli, but comparable pupil size was demonstrated across pleasant and neutral stimuli. A linear relationship between subjective arousal and pupil diameter was found in response to sound-clips, but was not evident in response to scenes. Contrary to predictions, psychopathy was unrelated to emotional modulation of pupil diameter across all stimuli. The findings were the same when participant gender was considered. This suggests that psychopathy within a community sample is not associated with autonomic hypo-responsivity to affective stimuli, and this effect is discussed in relation to later defensive/appetitive mobilisation deficits

Neural Correlates of Rumination in Adolescents with Remitted Major Depressive Disorder and Healthy Controls

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.The aim of the current study was to use fMRI to examine the neural correlates of engaging in rumination among a sample of remitted depressed adolescents, a population at high risk for future depressive relapse. A rumination induction task was used to assess differences in patterns of neural activation during rumination as compared with a distraction condition among 26 adolescents in remission from major depressive disorder (rMDD) and 15 healthy control adolescents. Self-report depression and rumination as well as clinician-rated depression were also assessed among all participants. All participants recruited regions in the default mode network (DMN), including the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and medial temporal gyrus (MTG) during rumination. Increased activation in these regions during rumination was correlated with increased self-report rumination and symptoms of depression across all participants. Adolescents with rMDD also exhibited greater activation in regions involved in visual, somatosensory, and emotion processing when compared to healthy peers. The current findings suggest that during ruminative thought, adolescents with rMDD are characterized by increased recruitment of regions within the DMN and in areas involved in visual, somatosensory, and emotion processing.The current study was funded by UL1TR00050 (PI:Azar for UIC CCTS) Professional Development award, the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, The UIC Campus Research Board, and a Varela award from the Mind and Life Institute (awarded to RHJ). ATP and KLB were supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant T32- MH067631 (Training in the Neuroscience of Mental Health; PI: Mark Rasenick), and SAL was supported by MH091811 and MH101487. The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose

Parental Acceptanceâ\u80\u93Rejection and Adolescent Maladjustment: Mothersâ\u80\u99 and Fathersâ\u80\u99 Combined Roles

In this study we examined the relationship between adolescent reports of paternal and maternal acceptance–rejection and adolescent maladjustment to test the hypothesis that inter-parental inconsistency was a specific risk factor for maladjustment. The participants were 2624 adolescents (1316 boys) aged between 10 and 16 years. Perceived maternal and paternal acceptance–rejection—defined in terms of the framework of interpersonal acceptance–rejection theory—and anxiety–depression symptoms and aggressive behaviors were assessed. The intraclass correlation coefficients were performed to evaluate the impact of inter-parental inconsistency on adolescent adjustment. Moreover, a cluster analysis was used to uncover patterns in combinations of maternal and paternal acceptance–rejection. Our findings show that, in general, adolescents perceive their mothers and fathers as similarly accepting or rejecting. Parental rejection was associated with adolescent maladjustment. Inter-parental inconsistency in acceptance–rejection was also associated with maladaptive symptoms and behaviors. Living in a non-intact family amplified the effects of rejection and inter-parental inconsistency. Effects of parental rejection are observed also during adolescence; both parents are equally influential and even one rejecting parent is risk factor for adolescent maladjustment