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Deming P, Cook CJ, Meyerand ME, Kiehl KA, Kosson DS, Koenigs M. Impaired salience network switching in psychopathy. Behav Brain Res 2023; 452:114570. [PMID: 37421987 PMCID: PMC10527938 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
Growing evidence suggests that psychopathy is related to altered connectivity within and between three large-scale brain networks that support core cognitive functions, including allocation of attention. In healthy individuals, default mode network (DMN) is involved in internally-focused attention and cognition such as self-reference. Frontoparietal network (FPN) is anticorrelated with DMN and is involved in externally-focused attention to cognitively demanding tasks. A third network, salience network (SN), is involved in detecting salient cues and, crucially, appears to play a role in switching between the two anticorrelated networks, DMN and FPN, to efficiently allocate attentional resources. Psychopathy has been related to reduced anticorrelation between DMN and FPN, suggesting SN's role in switching between these two networks may be diminished in the disorder. To test this hypothesis, we used independent component analysis to derive DMN, FPN, and SN activity in resting-state fMRI data in a sample of incarcerated men (N = 148). We entered the activity of the three networks into dynamic causal modeling to test SN's switching role. The previously established switching effect of SN among young, healthy adults was replicated in a group of low psychopathy participants (posterior model probability = 0.38). As predicted, SN's switching role was significantly diminished in high psychopathy participants (t(145) = 26.39, p < .001). These findings corroborate a novel theory of brain function in psychopathy. Future studies may use this model to test whether disrupted SN switching is related to high psychopathy individuals' abnormal allocation of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Deming
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Cole J Cook
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Ave., Rm 1005, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Mary E Meyerand
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Ave., Rm 1005, Madison, WI 53705, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Kent A Kiehl
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical, 1101 Yale Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA
| | - David S Kosson
- Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL 60064, USA
| | - Michael Koenigs
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Blvd., Madison, WI 53719, USA
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Northam JC, Kurukulasuriya N, Hunt C, Hawes DJ. Moral reasoning, emotion understanding, and callous-unemotional traits in early-to-middle childhood. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 40:306-319. [PMID: 34939686 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Relatively little is known about features of moral reasoning among young children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of guilt and empathy). This study tested associations between CU traits and emotion attributions (i.e., identification of others' emotional states) and justifications (i.e., explanations for those emotional states), across social scenarios involving discreet versus salient distress cues. The participants were boys aged 6-to-10 years (N = 50; Mage = 7 years 7 months), who were interviewed about 12 hypothetical scenarios (eight with discreet and four with salient distress cues). Regression models indicated that CU traits, in interaction with high levels of antisocial behaviour, were associated with reduced emotion attributions of fear in discreet but not salient immoral scenarios. Higher CU traits were also associated with reduced justifications referencing others' welfare in discreet scenarios, and increased references to action-orientated justifications in salient scenarios. These findings suggest that CU traits are associated with early moral reasoning impairments and that salience of distress may be important to these processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaimie C Northam
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Caroline Hunt
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - David J Hawes
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Teeuw J, Klein M, Mota NR, Brouwer RM, van ‘t Ent D, Al-Hassaan Z, Franke B, Boomsma DI, Hulshoff Pol HE. Multivariate Genetic Structure of Externalizing Behavior and Structural Brain Development in a Longitudinal Adolescent Twin Sample. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23063176. [PMID: 35328598 PMCID: PMC8949114 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23063176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Externalizing behavior in its more extreme form is often considered a problem to the individual, their families, teachers, and society as a whole. Several brain structures have been linked to externalizing behavior and such associations may arise if the (co)development of externalizing behavior and brain structures share the same genetic and/or environmental factor(s). We assessed externalizing behavior with the Child Behavior Checklist and Youth Self Report, and the brain volumes and white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy [FA] and mean diffusivity [MD]) with magnetic resonance imaging in the BrainSCALE cohort, which consisted of twins and their older siblings from 112 families measured longitudinally at ages 10, 13, and 18 years for the twins. Genetic covariance modeling based on the classical twin design, extended to also include siblings of twins, showed that genes influence externalizing behavior and changes therein (h2 up to 88%). More pronounced externalizing behavior was associated with higher FA (observed correlation rph up to +0.20) and lower MD (rph up to −0.20), with sizeable genetic correlations (FA ra up to +0.42; MD ra up to −0.33). The cortical gray matter (CGM; rph up to −0.20) and cerebral white matter (CWM; rph up to +0.20) volume were phenotypically but not genetically associated with externalizing behavior. These results suggest a potential mediating role for global brain structures in the display of externalizing behavior during adolescence that are both partially explained by the influence of the same genetic factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jalmar Teeuw
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (R.M.B.); (Z.A.-H.); (H.E.H.P.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +31-(088)-75-53-387
| | - Marieke Klein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA;
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (N.R.M.); (B.F.)
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Nina Roth Mota
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (N.R.M.); (B.F.)
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rachel M. Brouwer
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (R.M.B.); (Z.A.-H.); (H.E.H.P.)
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Dennis van ‘t Ent
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; (D.v.‘t.E.); (D.I.B.)
| | - Zyneb Al-Hassaan
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (R.M.B.); (Z.A.-H.); (H.E.H.P.)
| | - Barbara Franke
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (N.R.M.); (B.F.)
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Dorret I. Boomsma
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; (D.v.‘t.E.); (D.I.B.)
- Amsterdam Public Health (APH) Research Institute, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (R.M.B.); (Z.A.-H.); (H.E.H.P.)
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Graziano PA, Garic D, Dick AS. Individual differences in white matter of the uncinate fasciculus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus: possible early biomarkers for callous-unemotional behaviors in young children with disruptive behavior problems. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2022; 63:19-33. [PMID: 34038983 PMCID: PMC9104515 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors are important for identifying severe patterns of conduct problems (CP). One major fiber tract implicated in the development of CP is the uncinate fasciculus (UF), which connects amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The goals of the current study were to (a) explore differences in the white matter microstructure in the UF and other major fiber tracks between young typically developing (TD) children and those with a disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) and (b) explore, within the DBD group, whether individual differences in these white matter tracts relate to co-occurring CP and CU behaviors. METHODS Participants included 198 young children (69% boys, Mage = 5.66 years; 80% Latinx; 48.5% TD). CU behaviors and CP were measured via a combination of teacher/parent ratings. Non-invasive diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was used to measure fractional anisotropy (FA), an indirect indicator of white matter properties. RESULTS Relative to TD children, children in the DBD group had reduced FA on four out of the five fiber tracks we examined (except for cingulum and right ILF), even after accounting for whole brain FA, sex, movement, parental income, and IQ. Within the DBD group, no associations were found between CP and reduced white matter integrity across any of the fiber tracks examined. However, we found that even after accounting for CP, ADHD symptomology, and a host of covariates (whole brain FA, sex, movement, parental income, and IQ), CU behaviors were independently related to reduced FA in bilateral UF and left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) in the DBD group, but this was not the case for TD children. CONCLUSIONS Alterations in the white matter microstructure within bilateral UF and left IFOF may be biomarkers of CU behaviors, even in very young children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo A. Graziano
- Department of Psychology Center for Children and Families Florida International University Miami FL USA
| | - Dea Garic
- Department of Psychology Center for Children and Families Florida International University Miami FL USA
| | - Anthony Steven Dick
- Department of Psychology Center for Children and Families Florida International University Miami FL USA
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Hodgins S. Sex differences in antisocial and aggressive disorders that onset in childhood and persist into adulthood. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2020; 175:405-422. [PMID: 33008540 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-64123-6.00027-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
As many as 10.7% of males and 7.5% of females display early-onset, stable, antisocial and aggressive behavior (ESAAB). Most research has focused on males. These individuals are diagnosed with conduct disorder in childhood and antisocial personality disorder in adulthood, and a very few, almost all males, present the syndrome of psychopathy. ESAAB includes three subgroups: (1) conduct problems and callousness; (2) conduct problems, callousness, and anxiety; and (3) conduct problems. Heritability of the first two subtypes is high. This high heritability derives, at least in part, from genes involved in regulating serotonergic functioning early in life and to genotypes that confer sensitivity to trauma. The first subtype is rare and characterized by difficulty in face emotion recognition, especially fear and sadness, and hypoarousal as indexed by both autonomic and neural measures, and by structural brain abnormalities. By contrast, those with conduct problems, callousness, and anxiety are more common. They include a greater proportion of females and show hypersensitivity to threat that triggers reactive aggression and that is reflected in both autonomic and neural functioning. In sum, fewer females than males present ESAAB, but many characteristics, autonomic and neural correlates, and etiology are similar. Importantly, however, females with ESAAB play a critical role in the intergenerational transfer of antisocial behavior. Despite higher prevalence of EASSB in males than females, few sex differences in neural abnormalities have been identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheilagh Hodgins
- Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
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