Attentional biases to threat and serotonin transporter gene promoter (5-HTLPR) polymorphisms: Evidence from a probe discrimination task with endogenous cues

Mapping the developmental pathways of child conduct problems through the neurobiology of empathy

The notion that antisocial behavior reflects failures of empathy has a long history in the clinical literature, yet only recently has evidence emerged to support neuroscientific accounts of empathy and the development of child conduct problems. Much of this evidence has come from research into callous-unemotional traits, which correspond to the affective component of psychopathy and therefore encompass deficits in empathy within a broader cluster of emotional impairments. In this review we integrate current evidence concerning the biobehavioral bases of empathy and callous-unemotional traits, and discuss how it may inform models of heterogeneous subgroups of individuals with early onset conduct problems. We argue that somewhat distinct failures of empathy map onto distinct risk pathways to early onset conduct problems, and that these pathways may be best understood by examining empathy in terms of cognitive and environmental prerequisites and the various neurochemical systems implicated therein.

Early experience affects the strength of vigilance for threat in rhesus monkey infants

Both human and nonhuman primates exhibit a cognitive bias to social threat, but little is known about how this bias develops. We investigated the development of threat bias in free-ranging infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at 3 months (n = 45) and 9 months (n = 46) of age. Three-month-olds did not display bias, but 9-month-olds exhibited increased maintenance of attention to threatening social stimuli. To examine whether the social environment affected this increased vigilance for threat, we collected behavioral data on maternal rank and protectiveness across the first 12 weeks of life for infants tested at 9 months. Among 9-month-olds, those of high-ranking and more protective mothers displayed greater vigilance for threat than those of lower-ranking and less protective mothers. These results demonstrate that infant social cognition is shaped by mothers both directly (via protectiveness) and indirectly (through social rank).