Abnormal processing of affective words by psychopaths

Brain potentials implicate temporal lobe abnormalities in criminal psychopaths

Psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in attention and orienting. However, few studies have examined the neural systems underlying these processes. To address this issue, the authors recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while 80 incarcerated men, classified as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003), completed an auditory oddball task. Consistent with hypotheses, processing of targets elicited larger frontocentral negativities (N550) in psychopaths than in nonpsychopaths. Psychopaths also showed an enlarged N2 and reduced P3 during target detection. Similar ERP modulations have been reported in patients with amygdala and temporal lobe damage. The data are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that psychopathy may be related to dysfunction of the paralimbic system--a system that includes parts of the temporal and frontal lobes.

Emotion at the expense of cognition: psychopathic individuals outperform controls on an operant response task

The impact of emotional stimuli on a simple motor response task in individuals with psychopathy and comparison individuals was investigated. Psychopathy was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (Hare, 1991). Participants were presented with the Emotional Interrupt Task, in which they responded with left and right button presses to shapes that were temporally bracketed by positive, negative, and neutral visual images taken from the International Affective Picture System. The comparison group showed increased response latencies if the shape was temporally bracketed by either a positive or negative emotional stimulus relative to a neutral stimulus. Individuals with psychopathy did not show this modulation of reaction time for either positive or negative emotional stimuli. Results are discussed with reference to current models regarding the modulation of attention by emotion and the emotional impairment seen in individuals with psychopathy.

They know the words, but not the music: Affective and semantic priming in individuals with psychopathy

Previous work has indicated dysfunctional affect-language interactions in individuals with psychopathy through use of the lexical decision task. However, it has been uncertain as to whether these deficits actually reflect impaired affect-language interactions or a more fundamental deficit in general semantic processing. In this study, we examined affective priming and semantic priming (dependent measures were reaction times and error rates) in individuals with psychopathy and comparison individuals, classified according to the psychopathy checklist revised (PCL-R) [Hare, R.D., 1991. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Multi-Health Systems, Toronto, Ont] Individuals with psychopathy showed significantly less affective priming relative to comparison individuals. In contrast, the two groups showed comparable levels of semantic priming. The results are discussed with reference to current models of psychopathy.

A cognitive neuroscience perspective on psychopathy: evidence for paralimbic system dysfunction

Psychopathy is a complex personality disorder that includes interpersonal and affective traits such as glibness, lack of empathy, guilt or remorse, shallow affect, and irresponsibility, and behavioral characteristics such as impulsivity, poor behavioral control, and promiscuity. Much is known about the assessment of psychopathy; however, relatively little is understood about the relevant brain disturbances. The present review integrates data from studies of behavioral and cognitive changes associated with focal brain lesions or insults and results from psychophysiology, cognitive psychology and cognitive and affective neuroscience in health and psychopathy. The review illustrates that the brain regions implicated in psychopathy include the orbital frontal cortex, insula, anterior and posterior cingulate, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, and anterior superior temporal gyrus. The relevant functional neuroanatomy of psychopathy thus includes limbic and paralimbic structures that may be collectively termed 'the paralimbic system'. The paralimbic system dysfunction model of psychopathy is discussed as it relates to the extant literature on psychopathy.

Applying a cognitive neuroscience perspective to the disorder of psychopathy

Four models of psychopathy (frontal lobe dysfunction, response set modulation, fear dysfunction, and violence inhibition mechanism hypotheses) are reviewed from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience. Each model is considered both with respect to the psychopathy data and, more importantly, for the present purposes, with respect to the broader cognitive neuroscience fields to which the model refers (e.g., models of attention with respect to the response set modulation account and models of emotion with respect to the fear dysfunction and violence inhibition mechanism models). The paper concludes with an articulation of the more recent integrated emotion systems model, an account inspired both by recent findings in affective cognitive neuroscience as well as in the study of psychopathy. Some directions for future work are considered.

The impact of affect and frequency on lexical decision: the role of the amygdala and inferior frontal cortex

The current study used event-related fMRI to examine BOLD responses associated with two factors that behaviorally determine speed of lexical decision: frequency and emotion. Thirteen healthy adults performed a visual lexical decision task, discriminating between words and orthographically and phonologically legal nonwords. The study involved a 2 (Frequency: high and low) x 3 (Emotional arousal: highly negative, mildly negative, and neutral words) design with word categories matched for number of letters and concreteness. There were significant main effects for both frequency and emotion in lexical decision reaction times but no significant interaction. Negative word lexical decisions were associated with increased activation in bilateral amygdala and middle temporal cortex as well as rostral anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Low-frequency word lexical decisions, relative to high-frequency word lexical decisions, were associated with increased bilateral activity in inferior frontal cortex. Inferior frontal cortex activation was particularly low during lexical decision for high-frequency emotional words but significant for high-frequency neutral emotional words. We suggest that this is because the semantic representation of high-frequency emotional words may receive sufficient additional augmentation via the reciprocal activation from the amygdala such that selective augmentation by inferior frontal cortex to achieve lexical decision is unnecessary.

The development of psychopathy

The current review focuses on the construct of psychopathy, conceptualized as a clinical entity that is fundamentally distinct from a heterogeneous collection of syndromes encompassed by the term 'conduct disorder'. We will provide an account of the development of psychopathy at multiple levels: ultimate causal (the genetic or social primary cause), molecular, neural, cognitive and behavioral. The following main claims will be made: (1) that there is a stronger genetic as opposed to social ultimate cause to this disorder. The types of social causes proposed (e.g., childhood sexual/physical abuse) should elevate emotional responsiveness, not lead to the specific form of reduced responsiveness seen in psychopathy; (2) The genetic influence leads to the emotional dysfunction that is the core of psychopathy; (3) The genetic influence at the molecular level remains unknown. However, it appears to impact the functional integrity of the amygdala and orbital/ventrolateral frontal cortex (and possibly additional systems); (4) Disruption within these two neural systems leads to impairment in the ability to form stimulus-reinforcement associations and to alter stimulus-response associations as a function of contingency change. These impairments disrupt the impact of standard socialization techniques and increase the risk for frustration-induced reactive aggression respectively.

Processing of emotional adjectives: Evidence from startle EMG and ERPs

Affective startle modulation in the electromyographic (EMG), auditory startle evoked potentials, and visually evoked potentials (VEPs) were assessed while subjects evaluated pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral adjectives. Acoustic startle probes were presented at random time points 2.5-4.0 s after word onset. The visual P2 and P3 potentials were generally larger during processing of emotional than of neutral adjectives. In contrast, the late positive component was enhanced and was correlated with larger EMG startle responses and auditory startle evoked potential P3 amplitudes for pleasant words only. During internal cognitive activity, the startle reflex represents a measure of "processing interrupt." Thus the startle tone interrupted processing of particularly pleasant adjectives and caused re-alerting to environmental stimuli. Specific effects for pleasant material may arise from a "positivity offset," favoring responses to pleasant material at lower arousal levels.

Integration of emotion and cognition in patients with psychopathy

Psychopathy is a personality disorder associated with emotional characteristics like impulsivity, manipulativeness, affective shallowness, and absence of remorse or empathy. The impaired emotional responsiveness is considered to be the hallmark of the disorder. There are two theories that attempt to explain the emotional dysfunction and the poor socialization in psychopathy: (1) the low-fear model and (2) the inhibition of violence model. Both approaches are supported by several studies. Studies using aversive conditioning or the startle modulation underline the severe difficulties in processing negative stimuli in psychopaths. Studies that explore the processing of emotional expressions show a deficit of psychopathic individuals for processing sad or fearful facial expressions or vocal affect. In the cognitive domain, psychopaths show performance deficits in the interpretation of the motivational significance of stimuli. Studies investigating the impact of emotions on cognitive processes show that in psychopaths in contrast to healthy controls negative emotions drain no resources from a cognitive task. It is suggested that dysfunctions in the frontal cortex, especially the orbitofrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex and the amygdala are associated with the emotional and cognitive impairments.

Emotional and semantic networks in visual word processing: insights from ERP studies

The event-related brain potential (ERP) literature concerning the impact of emotional content on visual word processing is reviewed and related to general knowledge on semantics in word processing: emotional connotation can enhance cortical responses at all stages of visual word processing following the assembly of visual word form (up to 200 ms), such as semantic access (around 200 ms), allocation of attentional resources (around 300 ms), contextual analysis (around 400 ms), and sustained processing and memory encoding (around 500 ms). Even earlier effects have occasionally been reported with subliminal or perceptual threshold presentation, particularly in clinical populations. Here, the underlying mechanisms are likely to diverge from the ones operational in standard natural reading. The variability in timing of the effects can be accounted for by dynamically changing lexical representations that can be activated as required by the subjects' motivational state, the task at hand, and additional contextual factors. Throughout, subcortical structures such as the amygdala are likely to contribute these enhancements. Further research will establish whether or when emotional arousal, valence, or additional emotional properties drive the observed effects and how experimental factors interact with these. Meticulous control of other word properties known to affect ERPs in visual word processing, such as word class, length, frequency, and concreteness and the use of more standardized EEG procedures is vital. Mapping the interplay between cortical and subcortical mechanisms that give rise to amplified cortical responses to emotional words will be of highest priority for future research.

Event-related potential studies of language and emotion: words, phrases, and task effects

This chapter reviews research that focuses on the effects of emotionality of single words, and of simple phrases, on event-related brain potentials when these are presented visually in various tasks. In these studies, presentation of emotionally evocative language material has consistently elicited a late (c. 300-600 ms post-onset) positive-going, largely frontal-central shift in the event-related potentials (ERPs), relative to neutral materials. Overall, affectively pleasant and unpleasant words or phrases are quite similar in their neuroelectric profiles and rarely differ substantively. This emotionality effect is enhanced in both amplitude and latency when emotional content is task relevant, but is also reliably observed when the task involves other semantically engaging tasks. On the other hand, it can be attenuated or eliminated when the task does not involve semantic evaluation (e.g., lexical decisions to words or orthographic judgments to the spelling patterns) or when comprehension of phrases requires integration of the connotative meaning of several words (e.g., compare dead puppy and dead tyrant). Taken together, these studies suggest that the emotionality of written language has a rapid and robust impact on ERPs, which can be modulated by specific task demands as well as the linguistic context in which the affective stimulus occurs.

Macroscopic brain dynamics during verbal and pictorial processing of affective stimuli

Emotions can be viewed as action dispositions, preparing an individual to act efficiently and successfully in situations of behavioral relevance. To initiate optimized behavior, it is essential to accurately process the perceptual elements indicative of emotional relevance. The present chapter discusses effects of affective content on neural and behavioral parameters of perception, across different information channels. Electrocortical data are presented from studies examining affective perception with pictures and words in different task contexts. As a main result, these data suggest that sensory facilitation has an important role in affective processing. Affective pictures appear to facilitate perception as a function of emotional arousal at multiple levels of visual analysis. If the discrimination between affectively arousing vs. nonarousing content relies on fine-grained differences, amplification of the cortical representation may occur as early as 60-90 ms after stimulus onset. Affectively arousing information as conveyed via visual verbal channels was not subject to such very early enhancement. However, electrocortical indices of lexical access and/or activation of semantic networks showed that affectively arousing content may enhance the formation of semantic representations during word encoding. It can be concluded that affective arousal is associated with activation of widespread networks, which act to optimize sensory processing. On the basis of prioritized sensory analysis for affectively relevant stimuli, subsequent steps such as working memory, motor preparation, and action may be adjusted to meet the adaptive requirements of the situation perceived.

Incidental effects of emotional valence in single word processing: An fMRI study

The present study aimed at identifying the neural responses associated with the incidental processing of the emotional valence of single words using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty right-handed participants performed a visual lexical decision task, discriminating between nouns and orthographically and phonologically legal nonwords. Positive, neutral and negative word categories were matched for frequency, number and frequency of orthographic neighbors, number of letters and imageability. Response times and accuracy data differed significantly between positive and neutral, and positive and negative words respectively, thus, replicating the findings of a pilot study. Words showed distributed, mainly left hemisphere activations, indicating involvement of a neural network responsible for semantic word knowledge. The neuroimaging data further revealed areas in left orbitofrontal gyrus and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus with greater activation to emotional than to neutral words. These brain regions are known to be involved in processing semantic and emotional information. Furthermore, distinct activations associated with positive words were observed in bilateral middle temporal and superior frontal gyrus, known to support semantic retrieval, and a distributed network, namely anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, lingual gyrus and hippocampus when comparing positive and negative words. The latter areas were previously associated with explicit and not incidental processing of the emotional meaning of words and emotional memory retrieval. Thus, the results are discussed in relation to models of processing semantic and episodic emotional information.

Reliability and Validity Evaluation of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) in Swedish correctional and forensic psychiatric samples

This study evaluated the structural reliability, construct-related validity, and cultural validity generalization of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) in a sample of more than 560 male and female Swedish forensic psychiatric treatment patients, forensic evaluation patients, and criminal offenders. Structural reliability was excellent for most indices. PCL:SV scores were higher for males than females for total and Part 1 scores (interpersonal/affective features) but not for Part 2 (behavioral features). With some exceptions, PCL:SV scores were meaningfully related to aggression to others, a measure of risk for violence, substance use problems, personality disorder (positive), and psychosis (negative). Correlations between PCL:SV and aggression were larger for females than males, although the difference was smaller when personality disorder was held constant. The structural reliability and pattern of validity coefficients were comparable in these Swedish samples to other non-North American samples. Implications for the cross-cultural manifestation and correlates of psychopathy are discussed.

Neuroimaging in psychopathy

OBJECTIVE

The biological basis of psychopathy remains to be fully elucidated. Evidence suggests a genetic contribution and dysfunction of the serotonin system. The objective of this article is to review the contribution of the neuroimaging of the last decade to our understanding of psychopathy.

METHOD

A literature search was conducted using PubMed and the words psychopath, antisocial personality disorder, dissocial personality disorder, violence, image and imaging. In addition, the reference lists of the identified papers, and recent textbooks, were perused for additional sources.

RESULTS

Five structural and 15 functional neuroimaging studies were selected and examined. Structural studies have reported decreased prefrontal grey matter, decreased posterior hippocampal volume and increased callosal white matter, but to this point, these have not been replicated. Functional studies suggest reduced perfusion and metabolism in the frontal and temporal lobes. Abnormalities of function have been reported, predominantly in frontal and temporal lobe structures during classical conditioning and response inhibition tasks, and in the processing of emotional words and pictures.

CONCLUSION

Functional neuroimaging strongly suggests dysfunction of particular frontal and temporal lobe structures in psychopathy. However, there are difficulties in selecting homogeneous index cases and appropriate control groups. Further studies are necessary. Responses depend on genetic endowment, early life experience, the sociocultural context and the significance of any stimulus to the individual.

Implicit and explicit memory processes in panic patients as reflected in behavioral and electrophysiological measures

Implicit and explicit memory processes for panic-relevant and neutral word stimuli were examined in 16 panic patients and 16 healthy participants matched for sex, age, and education, using behavioral and electrophysiological measures. In the study phase, panic-relevant and neutral words were presented and the level of processing was varied by requiring either shallow (orthographic) or deeper (syntactic) processing. Implicit memory was tested with a lexical decision task, explicit memory with a recognition task. Panic patients and healthy participants did not differ in behavioral (response time) or event-related brain potential (ERP) measures of implicit memory. However, panic patients deviated from healthy participants in the recognition test, an explicit memory test. Although recognition of panic words was overall worse compared to neutral words, panic patients compared to healthy participants exhibited enhanced discrimination scores and faster reaction times for panic words. The level of processing manipulation had comparable effects on patients and healthy participants. While neither behavioral nor electrophysiological measures provided evidence for an implicit memory bias in panic patients, behavioral measures confirmed an explicit memory bias in panic patients for panic-relevant stimuli.

Are there common mechanisms in sensation seeking and reality distortion in schizophrenia? A study using memory event-related potentials

A growing literature suggests that the characteristics of sensation seeking and reality distortion expressed in schizophrenia share several mechanisms. In a previous study, the comparison of patients with high vs. low reality distortion using event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded in a recognition memory task for unfamiliar faces identified neural and cognitive anomalies specifically related to the expression of these symptoms. As a follow-up, this study investigated the ERP correlates of sensation seeking in schizophrenia using the same recognition memory protocol. ERPs have been recorded in controls (N=21) and schizophrenia patients separated into high (HSS; N=13) and low (LSS; N=17) scorers according to Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale. The results show a reduced P2a that was found unrelated to reality distortion in the previous study of reality distortion. It identifies interference inhibition impairment as being specifically related to sensation seeking. On the other hand, HSS scorers display enhanced fronto-central and normal P600 effects also found in high reality distortion patients. These results indicate inappropriate context processing and mnemonic binding common to sensation seeking and reality distortion. LSS scorers also display a reduced temporal N300 similar to that found in low reality distortion patients. This anomaly could reflect the lower reactivity to emotionally significant stimuli that underlies anhedonia symptoms. Finally, the N400 effect and a late frontal effect are found in both HSS and LSS. Since they were unrelated to reality distortion, these indices have been related to basic aspects of schizophrenia, e.g., deficient knowledge integration, or other mechanisms, e.g. anxiety or impulsivity. In summary, the present study examines the strategy of investigating variables, such as temperamental characteristics, in addition to symptoms, to show how discrete impairments may contribute to the expression of the illness.

State-dependent executive deficits among psychopathic offenders

Three hypotheses for cognitive deficits among psychopaths were tested: Response modulation, left hemisphere activation, and an interaction between the 2. Twenty-six psychopathic and 32 nonpsychopathic criminal offenders identified with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised were randomly assigned to left- and right-hemisphere activation groups. An auditory processing task was administered, such that the ability to classify nonverbal auditory signals and the ability to manage subgoals were assessed under left- and right-hemisphere activation conditions. The results showed that psychopaths' information processing in general, including response modulation, was deleteriously affected by left-hemisphere activation, supporting 2 of the 3 hypotheses tested. These results offer an explanation for inconsistent findings of executive deficits among psychopaths.

The Development of Psychopathy

In this review, we explore two aspects of the development of psychopathy. First, we examine what psychopathy looks like across time. Second, we ask where psychopathy comes from. Much recent empirical work supports the idea that psychopathy in childhood and adolescence looks much like psychopathy in adulthood. Research utilizing recently created juvenile psychopathy indices demonstrates that juvenile psychopathy can be assessed reliably and that the nomological network surrounding the construct is quite similar to the one around adult psychopathy. Juvenile psychopathy is robustly related to offending, other externalizing problems, low levels of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and deficits in emotional processing and inhibition. Juvenile psychopathy is also relatively stable across adolescence. Much less research has examined from whence psychopathy comes, although several theories are reviewed. We close with a discussion of recent objections to the downward developmental extension of psychopathy to juveniles and some suggestions for additional research.

Exploring the forensic use of the emotional recognition test (ERT)

General "hypo-emotionality" has now become a broadly accepted concept as one of the conspicuous psychological characteristics of repetitive, violent offenders. Numerous psychophysiological studies have verified this premise. The current study sought to examine the applicability of the Emotional Recognition Test (ERT) in a sample of 85 Korean inmates in a maximum-security prison. Two additional criterion groups were included for comparison: normal controls and schizophrenic inpatients. Because the ERT consists of problem-solving items, it is relatively free from response biases and is more efficient than measuring physiological responses. Results indicated that all criterion groups scored significantly differently on the ERT total and subscale scores. Additionally, similar to the physiological emotion-specific findings, emotion-specific subscales of the ERT indicated that offenders had significantly more difficulty in recognizing negative emotional stimuli, particularly sadness.

Functional differences among those high and low on a trait measure of psychopathy

BACKGROUND

It has been established that individuals who score high on measures of psychopathy demonstrate difficulty when performing tasks requiring the interpretation of other's emotional states. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relation of emotion and cognition to individual differences on a standard psychopathy personality inventory (PPI) among a nonpsychiatric population.

METHODS

Twenty participants completed the PPI. Following survey completion, a mean split of their scores on the emotional-interpersonal factor was performed, and participants were placed into a high or low group. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected while participants performed a recognition task that required attention be given to either the affect or identity of target stimuli.

RESULTS

No significant behavioral differences were found. In response to the affect recognition task, significant differences between high- and low-scoring subjects were observed in several subregions of the frontal cortex, as well as the amygdala. No significant differences were found between the groups in response to the identity recognition condition.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate that participants scoring high on the PPI, although not behaviorally distinct, demonstrate a significantly different pattern of neural activity (as measured by blood oxygen level-dependent contrast)in response to tasks that require affective processing. The results suggest a unique neural signature associated with personality differences in a nonpsychiatric population.

A Multigroup Item Response Theory Analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised

Item response theory was used to investigate the functioning of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003) in several offender populations. With male criminal offenders (N=3,847) as a reference group, differential item functioning analyses were performed for 3 comparison groups: female criminal offenders (N=1,219), male forensic psychiatric patients (N=1,246), and male criminal offenders scored from file reviews (N=2,626). Results are discussed in the context of the 2-factor, 4-facet model for the PCL-R (R. D. Hare, 2003; J. Parker, G. Sitarenios, & R. D. Hare, 2003). Application of a multigroup graded response model to all 4 groups suggests scalar equivalence may hold at least approximately for each population, although the PCL-R provided slightly greater information about the latent trait of psychopathy for male criminal offenders scored from the standard procedure.

Temporal lobe abnormalities in semantic processing by criminal psychopaths as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

We tested the hypothesis that psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in semantic processing of linguistic information. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to elucidate and characterize the neural architecture underlying lexico-semantic processes in criminal psychopathic individuals and in a group of matched control participants. Participants performed a lexical decision task in which blocks of linguistic stimuli alternated with a resting baseline condition. In each lexical decision block, the stimuli were either concrete words and pseudowords or abstract words and pseudowords. Consistent with our hypothesis, psychopathic individuals, relative to controls, showed poorer behavioral performance for processing abstract words. Analysis of the fMRI data for both groups indicated that processing of word stimuli, compared with the resting baseline condition, was associated with neural activation in bilateral fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate, left middle temporal gyrus, right posterior superior temporal gyrus, and left and right inferior frontal gyrus. Analyses confirmed our prediction that psychopathic individuals would fail to show the appropriate neural differentiation between abstract and concrete stimuli in the right anterior temporal gyrus and surrounding cortex. The results are consistent with other studies of semantic processing in psychopathy and support the theory that psychopathy is associated with right hemisphere abnormalities for processing conceptually abstract material.

The trouble with psychopathy as a general theory of crime

The concept of psychopathy, as defined by Robert Hare, is reviewed with respect to its status as a general theory of crime. A hybrid of the medical pathology model and personality trait approach, the psychopathy concept proposes that a significant portion of serious crime is committed by psychopathic individuals. Hare's version of psychopathy, besides demonstrating weak applicability and a propensity for tautology, is subject to labeling effects, oversimplicity, reductionism, the fundamental attributional error, inattention to context, and disregard for the dynamic nature of human behavior. It is concluded that the psychopathy concept is substantially limited with respect to its ability to describe and clarify general criminal behavior but that it may still have value as a partial explanation for certain types of non-criminal predatory behavior.

Temporal lobe abnormalities in semantic processing by criminal psychopaths as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

We tested the hypothesis that psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in semantic processing of linguistic information. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to elucidate and characterize the neural architecture underlying lexico-semantic processes in criminal psychopathic individuals and in a group of matched control participants. Participants performed a lexical decision task in which blocks of linguistic stimuli alternated with a resting baseline condition. In each lexical decision block, the stimuli were either concrete words and pseudowords or abstract words and pseudowords. Consistent with our hypothesis, psychopathic individuals, relative to controls, showed poorer behavioral performance for processing abstract words. Analysis of the fMRI data for both groups indicated that processing of word stimuli, compared with the resting baseline condition, was associated with neural activation in bilateral fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate, left middle temporal gyrus, right posterior superior temporal gyrus, and left and right inferior frontal gyrus. Analyses confirmed our prediction that psychopathic individuals would fail to show the appropriate neural differentiation between abstract and concrete stimuli in the right anterior temporal gyrus and surrounding cortex. The results are consistent with other studies of semantic processing in psychopathy and support the theory that psychopathy is associated with right hemisphere abnormalities for processing conceptually abstract material.

Stroop tasks reveal abnormal selective attention among psychopathic offenders

Selective attention among offenders with psychopathy was investigated using 3 Stroop paradigms: a standard color-word (CW) Stroop, a picture-word (PW) Stroop, and a color-word Stroop in which the word and color were spatially separated (separated CW). Consistent with "overselective" attention, offenders with psychopathy displayed reduced Stroop interference on the separated CW and PW tasks relative to offenders who were not psychopathic. However, offenders with psychopathy displayed normal Stroop interference on the standard CW Stroop. Further, the reduced interference of offenders with psychopathy on the separated CW Stroop was accompanied by normal facilitation. These findings suggest a circumscribed attentional deficit in psychopathy that hinders the use of unattended information that is (a) not integrated with deliberately attended information and (b) not compatible with current goal-directed behavior.

Response-Specific Scalp Distributions in Deception Detection and ERP Correlates of Psychopathic Personality Traits

Abstract University students were screened using items from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory and divided into high (n = 13) and low (n = 11) Psychopathic Personality Trait (PPT) groups. The P300 component of the event-related potential (ERP) was recorded as each group completed a two-block autobiographical oddball task, responding honestly during the first (Phone) block, in which oddball items were participants' home phone numbers, and then feigning amnesia in response to approximately 50% of items in the second (Birthday) block in which oddball items were participants' birthdates. Bootstrapping of peak-to-peak amplitudes correctly identified 100% of low PPT and 92% of high PPT participants as having intact recognition. Both groups demonstrated malingering-related P300 amplitude reduction. For the first time, P300 amplitude and topography differences were observed between honest and deceptive responses to Birthday items. No main between-group P300 effects resulted. Post-hoc analysis revealed between-group differences in a frontally located post-P300 component. Honest responses were associated with late frontal amplitudes larger than deceptive responses at frontal sites in the low PPT group only.

Psychopathy and Physiological Response to Emotionally Evocative Sounds

Despite considerable evidence that psychopathic criminals are deviant in their emotional reactions, few studies have examined responses to both pleasurable and aversive stimuli or assessed the role of different facets of psychopathy in affective deviations. This study investigated physiological reactions to emotional sounds in prisoners selected according to scores on the 2 factors of Hare's Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). Offenders high on the PCL-R emotional-interpersonal factor, regardless of scores on the social deviance factor, showed diminished skin conductance responses to both pleasant and unpleasant sounds, suggesting a deficit in the action mobilization component of emotional response. Offenders who scored high only on the social deviance factor showed a delay in heart rate differentiation between affective and neutral sounds. These findings indicate abnormal reactivity to both positive and negative emotional stimuli in psychopathic individuals, and suggest differing roles for the 2 facets of psychopathy in affective processing deviations.

Neuroendocrine responses to experimentally-induced emotions among abstinent opioid-dependent subjects

The present study investigated neuroendocrine and cardiovascular changes during experimentally-induced affective states in abstinent heroin-dependent subjects and healthy controls. The procedure for eliciting emotions in all subjects used pleasant and unpleasant stimuli that did not differ in subjective arousal properties. We investigated whether the valence of the stimuli differentially affected neuroendocrine responses by comparing neutral, pleasant and unpleasant pictures on heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), methyl-OH-phenyl-glycol (MHPG), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (EPI), adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol (CORT) plasma levels. Twelve abstinent heroin-dependent subjects, in comparison with 12 control subjects, were submitted to three experimental sessions, each on one of three experimental days a week apart, in counterbalanced order: day 1=unpleasant pictures, day 2=pleasant pictures, day 3=neutral pictures. In the rating of subjective arousal pleasant and unpleasant stimuli received the same high score in comparison with neutral stimuli; a different cardiovascular and neuroendocrine pattern was obtained in healthy subjects: unpleasant stimuli elicited increases in HR, SBP, MHPG, NE, ACTH, CORT, whereas neutral and pleasant stimuli did not induce any significant response in hormonal levels. In contrast, in heroin addicts, despite increased perceptions of unpleasantness, HR, SBP, MHPG and NE levels did not increase after disliked stimuli; these subjects also reported increased arousal during exposure to neutral stimuli. In comparison with controls, addicted individuals showed higher CORT and ACTH basal levels, and a consequent lack of response to unpleasant stimuli. The results indicate that neuroendocrine and cardiovascular systems respond selectively to affective, motivationally relevant stimuli, and that substance use disorders may be associated with dysregulation of emotion-processing mechanisms.

Ein Instrument zur Messung der Wirkung emotionaler Valenzen auf die Wortverarbeitung

Zusammenfassung. Um der Frage nach der Wirkung emotionaler Valenz auf die Wortverarbeitung nachzugehen wurde ein Instrument konstruiert, in dem auf positiv und negativ valente Wörter sowie auf neutrale Kontrollwörter reagiert werden muss. Die Konstruktion umfasste zunächst eine Selektion möglicher Items anhand von Bestimmungen ihrer emotionalen Valenz sowie ihrer Häufigkeit, Wortart, Buchstabenanzahl, Silbenanzahl und Konkretheit. In einer Durchführung mit einer lexikalischen Entscheidungsaufgabe zeigten 30 gesunde Probanden kürzere Reaktionszeiten für valente als für neutrale Wörter. Im Anschluss wurden zwei Parallelformen entwickelt, die auch vorher-nachher-Messungen erlauben. In beiden Parallelversionen wurden die Befunde mit 10 Versuchspersonen repliziert. Das Instrument bietet eine Grundlage für weitere Untersuchungen der Wechselwirkungen von Emotionen und Kognitionen.

Punishment insensitivity and parenting: temperament and learning as interacting risks for antisocial behavior

We review ideas about individual differences in sensitivity or responsiveness to common disciplinary behaviors parents use to correct aggressive and antisocial behavior in children. At extremes, children may be seen as "punishment-insensitive," an heuristic with some value relevant to models of the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior disorders. Literature from diverse fields, such as psychopathy, child temperament, socialization and the development of moral conscience, conditioning theory, and personality theory, have all utilized the idea that humans differ in their sensitivity to aversive stimuli and the cues that signal their occurrence, as well as their ability to inhibit reward-driven behavior, in the presence of punishment cues. Contemporary thinking places these dispositions squarely as basic biological aspects of temperament that moderate the effects of the environment (e.g., parenting) on outcomes (e.g., mental health). We review a largely forgotten literature that shows clearly that sensitivity to punishment is also reliably influenced by the environment itself. An attempt is then made to model the interactional processes by which parenting and punishment sensitivities in children magnify or diminish each other's progress toward healthy or antisocial development. Implications for parenting of children with low responsiveness to punishment strategies are discussed.

Attention as a characteristic of nonclinical dissociation: an event-related potential study

Individual differences in dissociative style (which is generally considered a risk factor for dissociative pathology) were studied in a nonclinical sample. It was hypothesized that high-dissociative participants would show enhanced attentional abilities toward both relevant and irrelevant stimulus features. In the experiment, threatening and affectively neutral words were classified on their affective valence and the presence of the letter A. To facilitate the full deployment of dissociative abilities, a feature (i.e., negative valence) was included that would automatically attract attention but not interfere with the processing of the central feature. Both the behavioral measures (i.e., reaction time) and the central neural measures (i.e., event-related potentials) showed that the ability to direct attention to the central feature was enhanced in the high dissociators. The high dissociators, moreover, showed evidence of directing attention to both affective valence and the letter A in the letter detection task. It is concluded that dissociative style does not correspond to a damaged or disturbed function but to an enhanced ability to direct and divide attention.

Emotional processing in personality disorder

In the field of personality disorders, borderline and antisocial types are associated with emotional dysfunctioning. In borderline personality disorder (BPD), the hypothesis of emotional hyperresponsiveness can be supported by several experimental studies that suggest highly intensive and slowly subsiding emotions to primed and non-primed stimuli, as well as by data showing biased information, which processes in the context of emotions. In addition, the first neuroimaging data suggest that limbic hypersensitivity is a neurofunctional correlate of emotional vulnerability in BPD. In antisocial psychopathic personality disorder, data confirm the theory of emotional detachment, subsuming fearlessness, and, beyond that, emotional indifference to appetitive stimuli. Because of a fundamental dysfunction in the amygdala, psychopathic individuals appear to use alternative cognitive operations of processing affective material to compensate for the absence of appropriate limbic input, which normally provides prompt information about the affective characteristics of stimuli.

Callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity, and emotional processing in adolescents with antisocial behavior problems

Examined the emotional reactivity of adolescents with antisocial behavior problems using a lexical decision paradigm. Evidence from adult forensic samples indicates that psychopathic traits are associated with abnormalities in the processing of emotional stimuli. In an attempt to extend these findings earlier in development, this association was tested in a sample of adolescents (mean age = 16.01; SD = 1.32) referred to a diversion program for delinquent behavior. Emotional processing was assessed by comparing recognition time for emotional words, both positive and negative, to recognition time for nonemotional words. Consistent with adult findings, the callous-unemotional (CU) dimension of psychopathy was associated with slower reaction times to negative words. In contrast, problems of impulse control were associated with faster recognition times for negative emotional words. These findings suggest that different patterns of emotional reactivity may characterize distinct subgroups of youth with antisocial behavior problems.

Callous-unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems

One method for defining pathways through which children develop severe conduct problems is based on the presence or absence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. This study investigated potential differences between nonreferred children (mean age = 12.36 years; SD = 1.73) with and without CU traits (n = 98). Children with conduct problems, irrespective of the presence of CU traits, tended to have significant problems in emotional and behavioral regulation. In contrast, CU traits, irespective of the presence of conduct problems, were associated with a lack of behavioral inhibition. Hostile attributional biases were associated with conduct problems but only in boys and in the absence of CU traits. These findings suggest that the processes underlying deficits in emotional and behavioral regulation in children with conduct problems may be different for children with CU traits.

Facial affect recognition in criminal psychopaths

Prior studies provide consistent evidence of deficits for psychopaths in processing verbal emotional material but are inconsistent regarding nonverbal emotional material. To examine whether psychopaths exhibit general versus specific deficits in nonverbal emotional processing, 34 psychopaths and 33 nonpsychopaths identified with Hare's (R. D. Hare, 1991) Psychopathy Checklist--Revised were asked to complete a facial affect recognition test. Slides of prototypic facial expressions were presented. Three hypotheses regarding hemispheric lateralization anomalies in psychopaths were also tested (right-hemisphere dysfunction, reduced lateralization, and reversed lateralization). Psychopaths were less accurate than nonpsychopaths at classifying facial affect under conditions promoting reliance on right-hemisphere resources and displayed a specific deficit in classifying disgust. These findings demonstrate that psychopaths exhibit specific deficits in nonverbal emotional processing.

Risky decisions and response reversal: is there evidence of orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in psychopathic individuals?

This study investigates the performance of psychopathic individuals on tasks believed to be sensitive to dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) functioning. Psychopathic and non-psychopathic individuals, as defined by the Hare psychopathy checklist revised (PCL-R) [Hare, The Hare psychopathy checklist revised, Toronto, Ontario: Multi-Health Systems, 1991] completed a gambling task [Cognition 50 (1994) 7] and the intradimensional/extradimensional (ID/ED) shift task [Nature 380 (1996) 69]. On the gambling task, psychopathic participants showed a global tendency to choose disadvantageously. Specifically, they showed an impaired ability to show learning over the course of the task. On the ID/ED task, the performance of psychopathic individuals was not significantly different from incarcerated controls on attentional set-shifting, but significant impairments were found on response reversal. These results are interpreted with reference to an OFC and amygdala dysfunction explanation of psychopathy.

Emotion among women with psychopathy during picture perception

Emotional reactions in women with psychopathy were examined in a mixed-picture paradigm using psychophysiological measures. Startle probes were presented at 2.0 or 4.5 s following onset of a 6-s picture presentation. At 2.0 s, nonpsychopaths exhibited the typical pattern of eyeblink reflex magnitude: unpleasant > neutral > pleasant. Psychopaths with high general levels of anxiety also exhibited this pattern. Psychopaths with lower anxiety exhibited attenuated reflex magnitudes during unpleasant pictures. Similarly, when focusing on psychopathy components, only individuals expressing high antisocial behavior and high emotional detachment exhibited smaller reflex magnitudes during unpleasant pictures. At 4.5 s, all groups exhibited normal, potentiated reflex magnitudes during unpleasant pictures. Group differences were not observed for other measures.