Differentiating Tower of Hanoi Performance: Interactive Effects of Psychopathic Tendencies, Impulsive Response Styles, and Modality

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that performance on the computerized Tower of Hanoi is lower than performance on the manual Tower of Hanoi. The present study was conducted to elucidate potential factors that contribute to performance differences across modalities. Personality characteristics related to psychopathy and impulsive response styles were hypothesized to be correlates of poor performance on the computerized version of the Tower of Hanoi, which is a problem-solving task that requires working memory, planning, and inhibition. Eighty-four college students from a mid-sized university participated. Participants were grouped as low, middle, or high psychopathy based on their total scores on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. A 2 (Modality) × 3 (Psychopathy) analysis of covariance, controlling for visuospatial working memory, yielded a significant interaction, in which the high psychopathy group did not differ in performance across modality, whereas the low and middle psychopathy groups performed more poorly on the computerized version. Subsequent analyses on reaction time and accuracy for the computerized modality indicated that a reflective, methodical approach to the computerized task was more productively utilized in the low psychopathy group, whereas the fast and accurate approach was more productively utilized in the high psychopathy group. These results suggest that individuals with elevated psychopathic tendencies within a normal population are not necessarily deficient in problem-solving performance on the Tower of Hanoi. Impulsive responding is associated with poor performance in the computerized version of the Tower of Hanoi, irrespective of psychopathic tendencies. Caution should be exercised in interpreting scores on the computerized Tower of Hanoi because the psychometric properties required for comparability with the manual version have not been sufficiently demonstrated.

Emotional processing in Colombian ex-combatants and its relationship with empathy and executive functions

“…Moreover, in populations with antisocial personality disorder and psychopathic behaviour, impairments in executive function have often been observed (Brazil et al, 2011;Salnaitis, Baker, Holland, & Welsh, 2011). This raises the possibility that individual differences in executive functions could be involved in the modulation of other cognitive-affective process.…”

Construct-focused Configural Invariance for Measures Showing a Multi-dimensional Structure and Application to Exchange Test Data

“…There is another problem regarding cognitive measures that is increasingly attracting attention in science: the use of a variety of strategies in completing the items of a measure (e.g., Geiser, Lehmann, & Eid, 2006;Perret, Bailleux, & Dauvier, 2011;Salnaitis et al, 2011;Schweizer, 2009). The use of strategies can become a problem if participants are expected to follow the prescribed strategy.…”

“…Impurity can be due to similarity among the items or trials or due to the participants' using different strategies in completing the items of the measure. There are reports of participants deviating from the expected processing strategy and this way changing the nature a measure (e.g., Patensko & Altman, 2010;Salnaitis, Baker, Holland, & Welsh, 2011). Impure measures lead to systematic variance that is irrelevant variance besides true variance.…”

The Psychopath Next Door: How Similar Are They to Those Behind Bars? Criminality, Executive Functioning, and Emotion Processing in 'Noncriminal' Psychopathy

“…In order to successfully achieve their desired goals, these individuals need the ability to foresee possible consequences of their actions, and thus would need intact or superior planning ability. Salnaitis, Baker, Holland, and Welsh (2011) found evidence for such relationship. They examined performance on a computerised version of the Tower of Hanoi to assess planning ability, but also response style, in a sample of undergraduate university students, assessed for psychopathy using the PPI.…”

“…On the other hand, noncriminal samples have a mix of male and female participants and reveal intact performance on planning tasks. For example, Salnaitis et al (2011) found that undergraduate participants who scored high on psychopathy performed better on the Tower of Hanoi than low and medium psychopathy scorers. Interestingly, in contrast to criminal offender samples, the sample was predominately female (73%).…”