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Psychopathic and autistic traits differentially influence the neural mechanisms of social cognition from communication signals. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:494. [PMID: 36446775 PMCID: PMC9709037 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02260-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychopathy is associated with severe deviations in social behavior and cognition. While previous research described such cognitive and neural alterations in the processing of rather specific social information from human expressions, some open questions remain concerning central and differential neurocognitive deficits underlying psychopathic behavior. Here we investigated three rather unexplored factors to explain these deficits, first, by assessing psychopathy subtypes in social cognition, second, by investigating the discrimination of social communication sounds (speech, non-speech) from other non-social sounds, and third, by determining the neural overlap in social cognition impairments with autistic traits, given potential common deficits in the processing of communicative voice signals. The study was exploratory with a focus on how psychopathic and autistic traits differentially influence the function of social cognitive and affective brain networks in response to social voice stimuli. We used a parametric data analysis approach from a sample of 113 participants (47 male, 66 female) with ages ranging between 18 and 40 years (mean 25.59, SD 4.79). Our data revealed four important findings. First, we found a phenotypical overlap between secondary but not primary psychopathy with autistic traits. Second, primary psychopathy showed various neural deficits in neural voice processing nodes (speech, non-speech voices) and in brain systems for social cognition (mirroring, mentalizing, empathy, emotional contagion). Primary psychopathy also showed deficits in the basal ganglia (BG) system that seems specific to the social decoding of communicative voice signals. Third, neural deviations in secondary psychopathy were restricted to social mirroring and mentalizing impairments, but with additional and so far undescribed deficits at the level of auditory sensory processing, potentially concerning deficits in ventral auditory stream mechanisms (auditory object identification). Fourth, high autistic traits also revealed neural deviations in sensory cortices, but rather in the dorsal auditory processing streams (communicative context encoding). Taken together, social cognition of voice signals shows considerable deviations in psychopathy, with differential and newly described deficits in the BG system in primary psychopathy and at the neural level of sensory processing in secondary psychopathy. These deficits seem especially triggered during the social cognition from vocal communication signals.
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West SJ, Thomson ND. Identifying the emotions behind apologies for severe transgressions. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-022-09993-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Davis AC, Brittain H, Arnocky S, Vaillancourt T. Longitudinal Associations Between Primary and Secondary Psychopathic Traits, Delinquency, and Current Dating Status in Adolescence. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 20:14747049211068670. [PMID: 35072531 PMCID: PMC10496107 DOI: 10.1177/14747049211068670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Many have examined the desirability and mate competition tactics of adults higher on psychopathy using cross-sectional data, but few have studied the longitudinal associations between the lower-order factors of psychopathy (e.g., primary and secondary psychopathy) with indices of mating behavior in adolescents. More work is also needed to unravel how psychopathic youth outcompete rivals for mates. Delinquency has long been associated with dating and sexual behavior in adolescents, which may help to explain the competitive success of youth higher in psychopathic traits in vying for mates. We used cross-lagged panel modeling with three waves of data from a randomly drawn sample of 514 Canadian adolescents who provided annual self-reports of primary and secondary psychopathy, delinquency, and dating involvement from Grades 10 to 12 (15-18 years of age). Constructs were temporally stable. Secondary psychopathy and delinquency had positive within-time correlations with current dating status in Grade 10. A cross-lagged pathway from delinquency to dating involvement was supported from Grade 10 to 11, which replicated from Grade 11 to 12. However, this effect was specific to boys and not girls. An indirect effect also emerged whereby secondary psychopathy in Grade 10 increased the likelihood of being in a dating relationship in Grade 12 via heightened delinquency in Grade 11.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam C. Davis
- Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N6N5
| | - Heather Brittain
- Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N6N5
| | - Steven Arnocky
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario Canada P1B8L7
| | - Tracy Vaillancourt
- Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N6N5
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Nummenmaa L, Lukkarinen L, Sun L, Putkinen V, Seppälä K, Karjalainen T, Karlsson HK, Hudson M, Venetjoki N, Salomaa M, Rautio P, Hirvonen J, Lauerma H, Tiihonen J. Brain Basis of Psychopathy in Criminal Offenders and General Population. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4104-4114. [PMID: 33834203 PMCID: PMC8328218 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychopathy is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy, and egotistical traits. These traits vary also in normally functioning individuals. Here, we tested whether such antisocial personalities are associated with similar structural and neural alterations as those observed in criminal psychopathy. Subjects were 100 non-convicted well-functioning individuals, 19 violent male offenders, and 19 matched controls. Subjects underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and viewed movie clips with varying violent content during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Psychopathic traits were evaluated with Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (controls) and Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (offenders). Psychopathic offenders had lower gray matter density (GMD) in orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula. In the community sample, affective psychopathy traits were associated with lower GMD in the same areas. Viewing violence increased brain activity in periaqueductal grey matter, thalamus, somatosensory, premotor, and temporal cortices. Psychopathic offenders had increased responses to violence in thalamus and orbitofrontal, insular, and cingulate cortices. In the community sample, impulsivity-related psychopathy traits were positively associated with violence-elicited responses in similar areas. We conclude that brain characteristics underlying psychopathic spectrum in violent psychopathy are related to those observed in well-functioning individuals with asocial personality features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauri Nummenmaa
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014, Finland
| | - Lasse Lukkarinen
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
- Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners, Health Care Services for Prisoners, Turku FI-20251, Finland
| | - Lihua Sun
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Vesa Putkinen
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Kerttu Seppälä
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Tomi Karjalainen
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Henry K Karlsson
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Matthew Hudson
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Niina Venetjoki
- Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners, Health Care Services for Prisoners, Turku FI-20251, Finland
| | - Marja Salomaa
- Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners, Health Care Services for Prisoners, Turku FI-20251, Finland
| | - Päivi Rautio
- Turku Prison Outpatient Clinic, Health Care Services for Prisoners, Turku, FI-20251, Finland
| | - Jussi Hirvonen
- Turku PET Centre, and Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20520, Finland
- Department of Radiology, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland, Turku 20520, Finland
| | - Hannu Lauerma
- Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners, Health Care Services for Prisoners, Turku FI-20251, Finland
| | - Jari Tiihonen
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet and Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm City Council, Stockholm SE-11364, Sweden
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio 70240, Finland
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Lasko EN, Chester DS. What makes a "successful" psychopath? Longitudinal trajectories of offenders' antisocial behavior and impulse control as a function of psychopathy. Personal Disord 2020; 12:207-215. [PMID: 32584094 DOI: 10.1037/per0000421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Psychopathy is a considerable risk factor for violent behavior. However, many psychopathic individuals refrain from antisocial and criminal acts. The mechanisms underlying the formation of this "successful" phenotype are uncertain. We tested a compensatory model of "successful" psychopathy, which posits that relatively "successful" psychopathic individuals develop greater conscientious traits that serve to inhibit their heightened antisocial impulses. To test this model, we examined the 7-year longitudinal Research on Pathways to Desistance study of 1,354 adjudicated adolescents. Higher initial psychopathy was associated with steeper increases in general inhibitory control and the inhibition of aggression over time. This effect was magnified among "successful" offenders (i.e., those who reoffended less). These findings support our compensatory model, suggesting that psychopathic individuals who develop greater self-regulatory control over their antisocial impulses become relatively more "successful" than their less regulated counterparts. Moreover, our results speak of the importance of the five-factor model for understanding psychopathy and the crucial role of conscientiousness in the form that psychopathic individuals take. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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