Factors of psychopathy and electrocortical response to emotional pictures: Further evidence for a two-process theory

Reduced late positive potentials to distress in individuals with high psychopathic traits during pain judgment tasks

This study examined the empathic processing of individuals with psychopathic traits and healthy controls in response to pain, applying affective perspective-taking (Self vs. Other). Twenty subjects with high psychopathic traits and twenty control subjects performed pain judgment tasks in the study. During the tasks, late positive potentials (LPPs) of the participants were measured to assess emotional processing in reaction to visual stimuli depicting painful or non-painful situations. In early LPP time stage (500-700 ms), the control group and the psychopathic trait group exhibited comparable levels of empathic processing regarding pain. However, in late LPP time window (700-1100 ms), the control group showed a greater LPP amplitude to Pain stimuli than No-pain stimuli, whereas the psychopathic trait group exhibited non-significant amplitude differences between Pain and No-pain stimuli. These findings imply that individuals with high psychopathic traits may swiftly terminate the processing and encounter difficulties in reappraising distress cues, especially in the late stage, providing psychophysiological support for distinctive empathic processing with temporal aspects.

Low defensive cardiac reactivity as a physiological correlate of psychopathic fearlessness: Gender differences

Affective/interpersonal features of psychopathy have been consistently associated with diverse psychophysiological indicators of low threat sensitivity, suggesting an underlying deficit in the reactivity of the brain's defensive motivational system. This study examined the Cardiac Defense Response (CDR) -a complex pattern of heart rate changes in response to an aversive, intense, and unexpected stimulus- and its second accelerative component (A2), as a new physiological indicator of the fearlessness trait component of psychopathy. The differential contribution of dispositional fearlessness, externalizing proneness, and coldheartedness to the CDR pattern elicited during a defense psychophysiological test was examined in a mixed-gender sample of 156 undergraduates (62% women) assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R). Higher PPI-R Fearless Dominance scores were related to lower heart rate changes throughout the CDR in women, but not in men. Further analyses on scales conforming the fearless dominance factor revealed that the hypothesized reduced A2 was specifically related to higher PPI-R Fearlessness scores only in women. Our findings provide initial evidence for the utility of the A2 to better understand the physiological aspects of fearlessness tendencies and its potential distinct manifestations across genders.

Attention-affect interactions and triarchic psychopathy: New electrophysiological insights from the late positive potential

One of the most prominent characteristics of psychopathy is a reduced processing of emotionally relevant information. However, it is still unclear how attentional mechanisms may modulate this deficit. The current study aimed to examine the impact of attentional focus on emotion processing in relation to the triarchic constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. Participants performed two tasks in which pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant framed pictures were presented. In the first task, participants were required to indicate the color of the frame (alternative-focus task), whereas in the second task they were instructed to indicate the emotional category of the image (affect-focus task). The Late Positive Potential (LPP) was used as an index of sustained engagement of attention to affective material. Confirming a successful task manipulation, we observed reduced LPP amplitudes, particularly for affective relevant material, in the alternative-focus task compared to the affect-focus task. Most interestingly, our results evidenced that trait meanness scores were associated with blunted elaborative processing of affective material (both appetitive and aversive) when this information was task-relevant (affect-focus task), but not when it was task-irrelevant (alternative-focus task). These findings indicate that high mean individuals are characterized by blunted elaborative processing of affective stimuli when their motivational relevance is determined in a top-down manner (i.e., when it is task-relevant). Our results highlight the need for further studying of the bottom-up and top-down dynamics of emotional attention in psychopathy.

Neurobiological Responses towards Stimuli Depicting Aggressive Interactions in Delinquent Young Adults and Controls: No Relation to Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Neurobiological measures underlying aggressive behavior have gained attention due to their potential to inform risk assessment and treatment interventions. Aberrations in responsivity of the autonomic nervous system and electrophysiological responses to arousal-inducing stimuli have been related to emotional dysregulation and aggressive behavior. However, studies have often been performed in community samples, using tasks that induce arousal but not specifically depict aggression. In this study, we examined differences in psychophysiological (i.e., heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, skin conductance level) and electrophysiological responses (i.e., P3, late positive potential, mu suppression) to aggressive versus neutral scenes in a sample of 118 delinquent young adults and 25 controls (all male, aged 18–27). With respect to group differences, we only found significant higher SCL reactivity during the task in the delinquent group compared to controls, but this was irrespective of condition (aggressive and neutral interactions). Within the delinquent group, we also examined associations between the neurobiological measures and reactive and proactive aggression. No significant associations were found. Therefore, although we found some indication of emotional dysregulation in these delinquent young adults, future studies should further elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying emotional dysregulation in relation to different types of aggression.

Does attentional focus modulate affective information processing in male violent offenders with psychopathic traits?

Antisocial and psychopathic individuals are characterized by a reduced responsivity to affective information. Yet, the role of attentional processes as possible modulator of these deficits is poorly understood. The current study investigated early and late processing of emotional stimuli in a sample of incarcerated offenders while manipulating the attentional focus. Twenty-seven male violent offenders with psychopathic traits and 27 healthy controls completed two experimental tasks while electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected. Task 1 assessed indirect processing of emotional or neutral distractors during a perceptual judgment task, while Task 2 measured direct processing of the emotional or neutral stimuli and required participants to rate the stimuli regarding valence and arousal. EEG data indicated no differences in early stage processing (early posterior negativity) between the experimental groups. However, we found significant group differences with regard to the late processing stage (late positive potential, LPP). Controls showed increased LPP amplitudes in Task 2 as compared to Task 1, indicating that task demands (i.e., attentional focus) had an effect on the processing of the emotional stimuli. In contrast, LPP amplitudes in the violent offender group were largely unaffected by task demands, suggesting specific late alterations in the neural processing of emotional stimuli. In sum, this study provides new evidence for a modulatory impact of attention on affective information processing in male violent offenders with psychopathic traits.

Response-locked component of error monitoring in psychopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of error-related negativity/positivity

Evidence suggests that psychopathic individuals display difficulties to adapt their behavior in accordance with the demands of the environment and show altered performance monitoring. Studies investigating the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error-positivity (Pe) as electrophysiological markers of error monitoring reported contradictory results for this population. To explain these discrepancies, we hypothesized that psychopathy dimensions influence electrophysiological outcomes. We predicted that individuals with impulsive-antisocial features would display abnormal ERN compared to individuals with interpersonal-affective features. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating ERN and Pe components were conducted. A factorial analysis was undertaken to investigate the role of psychopathy dimensions on ERN and Pe. Compared to controls, psychopathic individuals (n = 940) showed a reduced ERN and Pe amplitude. The factorial analysis indicates a dissociation regarding the construct of psychopathy. The models reported that psychopathic individuals related specifically to the interpersonal-affective dimension displayed normal ERN component and efficient error-monitoring, while psychopathic individuals with a marked impulsive-antisocial dimension display a decreased ERN component and altered performance monitoring.

Toward a multimodal measurement model for the neurobehavioral trait of affiliative capacity

A growing body of research supports the value of a multimodal assessment approach, drawing on measures from different response modalities, for clarifying how core biobehavioral processes relate to various clinical problems and dimensions of psychopathology. Using data for 507 healthy adults, the current study was undertaken to integrate self-report and neurophysiological (brain potential) measures as a step toward a multimodal measurement model for the trait of affiliative capacity (AFF) - a biobehavioral construct relevant to adaptive and maladaptive social-interpersonal functioning. Individuals low in AFF exhibit a lack of interpersonal connectedness, deficient empathy, and an exploitative-aggressive social style that may be expressed transdiagnostically in antagonistic externalizing or distress psychopathology. Specific aims were to (1) integrate trait scale and brain potential indicators into a multimodal measure of AFF and (2) evaluate associations of this multimodal measure with criterion variables of different types. Results demonstrated (1) success in creating a multimodal measure of AFF from self-report and neural indicators, (2) effectiveness of this measure in predicting both clinical-diagnostic and neurophysiological criterion variables, and (3) transdiagnostic utility of the multimodal measure at both specific-disorder and broad symptom-dimension levels. Our findings further illustrate the value of psychoneurometric operationalizations of biobehavioral trait dimensions as referents for clarifying transdiagnostic relationships between biological systems variables and empirically defined dimensions of psychopathology.

Abnormalities of the late positive potential during emotional processing in individuals with psychopathic traits: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Individuals with psychopathic traits display deficits in emotional processing. A key event-related potential component involved in emotional processing is the late positive potential (LPP). In healthy controls, LPP amplitude is greater in response to negative stimuli than to positive or neutral stimuli. In the current study, we aimed to compare LPP amplitudes between individuals with psychopathic traits and control subjects when presented with negative, positive or neutral stimuli. We hypothesized that LPP amplitude evoked by emotional stimuli would be reduced in individuals with psychopathic traits compared to healthy controls.

METHODS

After a systematic review of the literature, we conducted a meta-analysis to compare LPP amplitude elicited by emotional stimuli in individuals with psychopathic traits and healthy controls.

RESULTS

Individuals with psychopathic traits showed significantly reduced LPP amplitude evoked by negative stimuli (mean effect size = -0.47; 95% CI -0.60 to -0.33; p < 0.005) compared to healthy controls. No significant differences between groups were observed for the processing of positive (mean effect size = -0.15; 95% CI -0.42 to 0.12; p = 0.28) and neutral stimuli (mean effect size = -0.12; 95% CI 0.31 to 0.07; p = 0.21).

CONCLUSIONS

Measured by LPP amplitude, individuals with psychopathic traits displayed abnormalities in the processing of emotional stimuli with negative valence whereas processing of stimuli with positive and neutral valence was unchanged as compared with healthy controls.

Divergences among Three Higher-Order Self-Report Psychopathology Factors in Normal-Range Personality and Emotional Late Positive Potential Reactivity

Personality is related to psychopathology and its higher-order structures, but there is little research regarding neurobiological associations of higher-order psychopathology factors. This study examined the factor structure of a wide range of psychopathology and its associations with both personality and emotional reactivity revealed through the late positive potential (LPP) in a sample of 275 undergraduates. A three-factor structure of psychopathology emerged comprising Internalizing (INT), Externalizing (EXT), and Aberrant Experiences (ABX). EXT predicted aggressive disconstraint, whereas both INT and ABX predicted Alienation and Stress Reaction. INT uniquely predicted low Well-Being, and ABX predicted a rigid absorption combined with interpersonal detachment. ABX correlated with reduced parietal emotional LPP reactivity, whereas INT correlated with stronger frontal LPP reactivity to emotional versus neutral pictures.

High levels of psychopathic traits increase the risk of transferring reactive aggression to innocent people after provocation: Evidence from an ERP study

This study investigated the neuropsychological underpinnings of reactive aggression toward innocent people in a student population with different levels of psychopathic traits. While recording event-related potentials, participants (divided into high/low psychopathic [HP/LP] traits groups) competed against two fictitious opponents in a modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm. We found that the HP group compared to the LP group selected more often high-intensity punishment for the second innocent opponent after being provoked by the first opponent. Further, a more negative N2 and a smaller P3 was found in the HP group while punishing the innocents-reflecting a tendency on antisocial-aggressive behavior. Finally, both groups showed a more negative FRN for losing than winning trials when seeing the outcome of the game. Our results suggest that high psychopathic traits increase the risk of transferring provoked aggression to innocent people-offering a psychophysiological perspective for explaining and predicting aggression against the innocents in social interactions.

Impaired processing of threat in psychopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of factorial data in male offender populations

Background

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by two underlying factors. Factor 1 (affective and interpersonal deficits) captures affective deficits, whilst Factor 2 (antisocial and impulsive/disorganised behaviours) captures life course persistent antisocial behaviours. Impaired processing of threat has been proposed as an aetiologically salient factor in the development of psychopathy, but the relationship of this impairment to the factorial structure of the disorder in adult male offenders is unclear.

Objectives

To investigate whether threat processing deficits are characteristic of psychopathy as a unitary construct or whether such deficits are specifically linked to higher scores on individual factors.

Data sources

A systematic review of the literature was conducted by searching PubMed, Web of Science and PsycINFO.

Methods

Studies were included if they (1) reported physiological measures of threat response as the primary outcome measure (2) indexed psychopathy using a well-validated clinician rated instrument such as the PCL-R (3) investigated male offenders between 18 and 60 years of age (4) reported threat processing analyses using both Factor 1 and Factor 2 scores (5) provided sufficient data to calculate effect sizes and (6) were published in English-language peer-reviewed journals. We identified twelve studies with data on 1112 participants for the meta-analysis of the relationship with Factor 1 scores, and nine studies with data on 801 participants for the meta-analysis of the relationship with Factor 2 scores. We conducted the meta-analyses to calculate correlations using random-effects models.

Results

PCL-R/SV Factor 1 scores were significantly and negatively related to threat processing indices (r = -0.22, (95%CI [-0.28, -.017]). Neither PCL-R/SV Factor 2 scores (r = -0.005, 95%CI [-0.10, 0.09]), nor PCL-R total score (r = -0.05, (95%CI [-0.15, -0.04]) were related to threat processing indices. No significant heterogeneity was detected for the Factor score results.

Conclusions

The meta-analyses of the distinct psychopathy factors suggest that the threat processing deficits observed in male offenders with psychopathy are significantly associated with higher scores on Factor 1. A similar relationship does not exist with Factor 2 scores. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating the potentially discrete relationships between aetiological variables and the two factor constructs in the disorder.

Emotional reactivity and regulation in individuals with psychopathic traits: Evidence for a disconnect between neurophysiology and self-report

Individuals with psychopathic traits often demonstrate blunted reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. However, it is not yet clear whether these individuals also have difficulty regulating their emotional responses to negative stimuli. To address this question, participants with varying levels of psychopathic traits (indexed by the Triarchic Measure of Psychopathy; Patrick, 2010) completed a task in which they passively viewed, increased, or decreased their emotions to negative picture stimuli while electrocortical activity was recorded. During passive viewing of negative images, higher boldness, but not higher disinhibition or meanness, was associated with reduced amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP that indexes reactivity to emotionally relevant stimuli. However, all participants demonstrated expected enhancement of the LPP when asked to increase their emotional response. Participants did not show expected suppression of the LPP when asked to decrease their emotional response. Contrary to the electrophysiological data, individuals with higher boldness did not self-report experiencing blunted emotional response during passive viewing trials, and they reported experiencing greater emotional reactivity relative to other participants when regulating (e.g., both increasing and decreasing) their emotions. Results suggest inconsistency between physiological and self-report indices of emotion among high-bold individuals during both affective processing and regulation.

Methodological issues in the use of individual brain measures to index trait liabilities: The example of noise-probe P3

Recent research initiatives have called for an increased use of biological concepts and measures in defining and studying mental health problems, but important measurement-related challenges confront efforts in this direction. This article highlights some of these challenges with reference to an intriguing measure of neural reactivity: the probe P3 response, a mid-latency brain potential evoked by an intense, unexpected acoustic-probe stimulus. Using data for a large adult sample (N=418), we report evidence that amplitude of probe P3 response to unwarned noise bursts occurring in a picture-viewing task exhibits robust, independent associations with two distinct trait constructs: weak inhibitory control (or disinhibition; DIS) and threat sensitivity (THT). Additionally, we report a selective association for THT with attentional suppression of probe P3 response during viewing of aversive pictures compared to neutral. These results point to separable elements of variance underlying the probe P3 response, including one element reflecting DIS-related variations in cognitive-elaborative processing, and others reflecting THT-related variations in aversive foreground engagement and abrupt defensive reorientation. Key measurement issues are considered in relation to these specific findings, and methodological and statistical approaches for addressing these issues are discussed in relation to advancement of a quantitatively sound, biologically informed science of psychopathology.

Reliability and Construct Validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised in a Swedish Non-Criminal Sample - A Multimethod Approach including Psychophysiological Correlates of Empathy for Pain

Cross-cultural investigation of psychopathy measures is important for clarifying the nomological network surrounding the psychopathy construct. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) is one of the most extensively researched self-report measures of psychopathic traits in adults. To date however, it has been examined primarily in North American criminal or student samples. To address this gap in the literature, we examined PPI-R's reliability, construct validity and factor structure in non-criminal individuals (N = 227) in Sweden, using a multimethod approach including psychophysiological correlates of empathy for pain. PPI-R construct validity was investigated in subgroups of participants by exploring its degree of overlap with (i) the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), (ii) self-rated empathy and behavioral and physiological responses in an experiment on empathy for pain, and (iii) additional self-report measures of alexithymia and trait anxiety. The PPI-R total score was significantly associated with PCL:SV total and factor scores. The PPI-R Coldheartedness scale demonstrated significant negative associations with all empathy subscales and with rated unpleasantness and skin conductance responses in the empathy experiment. The PPI-R higher order Self-Centered Impulsivity and Fearless Dominance dimensions were associated with trait anxiety in opposite directions (positively and negatively, respectively). Overall, the results demonstrated solid reliability (test-retest and internal consistency) and promising but somewhat mixed construct validity for the Swedish translation of the PPI-R.

Deficient aversive-potentiated startle and the triarchic model of psychopathy: The role of boldness

This study examined the contribution of the phenotypic domains of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition of the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy (Patrick, Fowles, & Krueger, 2009) to deficient aversive-potentiated startle in a mixed-gender sample of 180 undergraduates. Eyeblink responses to noise probes were recorded during a passive picture-viewing task (erotica, neutral, threat, and mutilation). Deficient threat vs. neutral potentiation was uniquely related to increased boldness scores, thus suggesting that the diminished defensive reaction to aversive stimulation is specifically linked to the charm, social potency and venturesomeness features of psychopathy (boldness), but not to features such as callousness, coldheartedness and cruelty traits (meanness), even though both phenotypes theoretically share the same underlying low-fear disposition. Our findings provide further evidence of the differential association between distinct psychopathy components and deficits in defensive reactivity and strongly support the validity of the triarchic model of psychopathy in disentangling the etiology of this personality disorder.

Psychoneurometric operationalization of threat sensitivity: Relations with clinical symptom and physiological response criteria

The National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative calls for the incorporation of neurobiological approaches and findings into conceptions of mental health problems through a focus on biobehavioral constructs investigated across multiple domains of measurement (units of analysis). Although the constructs in the RDoC system are characterized in "process terms" (i.e., as functional concepts with brain and behavioral referents), these constructs can also be framed as dispositions (i.e., as dimensions of variation in biobehavioral functioning across individuals). Focusing on one key RDoC construct, acute threat or "fear," the current article illustrates a construct-oriented psychoneurometric strategy for operationalizing this construct in individual difference terms-as threat sensitivity (THT+). Utilizing data from 454 adult participants, we demonstrate empirically that (a) a scale measure of THT+ designed to tap general fear/fearlessness predicts effectively to relevant clinical problems (i.e., fear disorder symptoms), (b) this scale measure shows reliable associations with physiological indices of acute reactivity to aversive visual stimuli, and (c) a cross-domain factor reflecting the intersection of scale and physiological indicators of THT+ predicts effectively to both clinical and neurophysiological criterion measures. Results illustrate how the psychoneurometric approach can be used to create a dimensional index of a biobehavioral trait construct, in this case THT+, which can serve as a bridge between phenomena in domains of psychopathology and neurobiology. Implications and future directions are discussed with reference to the RDoC initiative and existing report-based conceptions of psychological traits.

Understanding amygdala responsiveness to fearful expressions through the lens of psychopathy and altruism

Because the face is the central focus of human social interactions, emotional facial expressions provide a unique window into the emotional lives of others. They play a particularly important role in fostering empathy, which entails understanding and responding to others' emotions, especially distress-related emotions such as fear. This Review considers how fearful facial as well as vocal and postural expressions are interpreted, with an emphasis on the role of the amygdala. The amygdala may be best known for its role in the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear, but it also supports the perception and recognition of others' fear. Various explanations have been supplied for the amygdala's role in interpreting and responding to fearful expressions. They include theories that amygdala responses to fearful expressions 1) reflect heightened vigilance in response to uncertain danger, 2) promote heightened attention to the eye region of faces, 3) represent a response to an unconditioned aversive stimulus, or 4) reflect the generation of an empathic fear response. Among these, only empathic fear explains why amygdala lesions would impair fear recognition across modalities. Supporting the possibility of a link between fundamental empathic processes and amygdala responses to fear is evidence that impaired fear recognition in psychopathic individuals results from amygdala dysfunction, whereas enhanced fear recognition in altruistic individuals results from enhanced amygdala function. Empathic concern and caring behaviors may be fostered by sensitivity to signs of acute distress in others, which relies on intact functioning of the amygdala.