Disentangling possible effects of childhood physical abuse on gray matter changes in violent offenders with psychopathy

Kolla, Nathan J.; Gregory, Sarah; Attard, Stephen; Blackwood, Nigel; Hodgins, Sheilagh

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.11.008

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between childhood maltreatment and psychopathy severity, such that individuals high in psychopathy who experienced more extensive histories of childhood abuse (and particularly sexual abuse) showed the greatest impairments in reversal learning. Though it is necessary to replicate these findings, the current results are consistent with previous work by Kolla and colleagues (Kolla, Gregory, Attard, Blackwood, & Hodgins, 2014; Kolla et al, 2013), who have documented significant maltreatment by psychopathy interactions. These results highlight the importance of considering maltreatment history when studying psychopathic offenders.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…For instance, Kolla and colleagues (2013) reported a significant interaction between psychopathy and maltreatment in which childhood physical abuse was associated with greater levels of reactive aggression, but only among individuals high in psychopathy. Similarly, there is preliminary evidence suggesting that some of the structural brain abnormalities documented in psychopathic offenders may in fact relate to childhood physical abuse, rather than the presence of psychopathic traits per se (Kolla, Gregory, Attard, Blackwood & Hodgins, 2014). It is unclear, however, if similar psychopathy and maltreatment interactions emerge within the context of reversal learning, or if substance use history differentially affects the cognitive functioning of psychopathic individuals.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Reversal Learning Deficits in Criminal Offenders: Effects of Psychopathy, Substance use, and Childhood Maltreatment History

Dargis

Wolf

Koenigs

2016

J Psychopathol Behav Assess

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Deficits in reinforcement learning are presumed to underlie the impulsive and incorrigible behavior exhibited by psychopathic criminals. However, previous studies documenting reversal learning impairments in psychopathic individuals have not investigated this relationship across a continuous range of psychopathy severity, nor have they examined how reversal learning impairments relate to different psychopathic traits, such as the interpersonal-affective and lifestyle-antisocial dimensions. Furthermore, previous studies have not considered the role that childhood maltreatment and substance use may have in this specific cognitive deficit. Using a standard reversal learning task in a sample of N = 114 incarcerated male offenders, we demonstrate a significant relationship between psychopathy severity and reversal learning errors. Furthermore, we show a significant interaction between psychopathy and childhood maltreatment, but not substance use, such that individuals high in psychopathy with an extensive history of maltreatment committed the greatest number of reversal learning errors. These findings extend the current understanding of reversal learning performance among psychopathic individuals, and highlight the importance of considering childhood maltreatment when studying psychopathy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reversal Learning Deficits in Criminal Offenders: Effects of Psychopathy, Substance use, and Childhood Maltreatment History

Dargis

Wolf

Koenigs

2016

J Psychopathol Behav Assess

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“…Decreases in GMV were seen in the temporal regions (17,110). Most prominent areas of decreased GMV were the superior temporal gyrus (39,41), middle temporal gyrus (27,46), superior temporal sulcus (29,45), fusiform gyrus (25,27), and the temporal poles (30,33,39).…”

Section: Temporal Cortexmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Systematic Literature Review of Neuroimaging of Psychopathic Traits

et al. 2020

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Introduction: Core psychopathy is characterized by grandiosity, callousness, manipulativeness, and lack of remorse, empathy, and guilt. It is often comorbid with conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Psychopathy is present in forensic as well as prison and general populations. In recent years, an increasing amount of neuroimaging studies has been conducted in order to elucidate the obscure neurobiological etiology of psychopathy. The studies have yielded heterogenous results, and no consensus has been reached.Aims: This study systematically reviewed and qualitatively summarized functional and structural neuroimaging studies conducted on individuals with psychopathic traits. Furthermore, this study aimed to evaluate whether the findings from different MRI modalities could be reconciled from a neuroanatomical perspective.Materials and Methods: After the search and auditing processes, 118 neuroimaging studies were included in this systematic literature review. The studies consisted of structural, functional, and diffusion tensor MRI studies.Results: Psychopathy was associated with numerous neuroanatomical abnormalities. Structurally, gray matter anomalies were seen in frontotemporal, cerebellar, limbic, and paralimbic regions. Associated gray matter volume (GMV) reductions were most pronounced particularly in most of the prefrontal cortex, and temporal gyri including the fusiform gyrus. Also decreased GMV of the amygdalae and hippocampi as well the cingulate and insular cortices were associated with psychopathy, as well as abnormal morphology of the hippocampi, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens. Functionally, psychopathy was associated with dysfunction of the default mode network, which was also linked to poor moral judgment as well as deficient metacognitive and introspective abilities. Second, reduced white matter integrity in the uncinate fasciculus and dorsal cingulum were associated with core psychopathy. Third, emotional detachment was associated with dysfunction of the posterior cerebellum, the human mirror neuron system and the Theory of Mind denoting lack of empathy and persistent failure in integrating affective information into cognition.Conclusions: Structural and functional aberrancies involving the limbic and paralimbic systems including reduced integrity of the uncinate fasciculus appear to be associated with core psychopathic features. Furthermore, this review points towards the idea that ASPD and psychopathy might stem from divergent biological processes.

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“…Children with conduct disorders were found to show lower volumes and cortical thickness in the frontal cortex, cingulate, and insula and lower volumes in the amygdala and the hippocampus (Fahim et al, 2011;Fairchild et al, 2011Fairchild et al, , 2012Huebner et al, 2008;Sterzer, Stadler, Poustka, & Kleinschmidt, 2007;Walhovd, Tamnes, Ostby, Due-Tonnessen, & Fjell, 2012). Two recent studies found that incarcerated male adolescents who committed homicide showed lower gray matter volumes in the medial and lateral temporal lobes, including the hippocampus and posterior insula, than non-homicide offenders (Cope et al, 2014;Kolla, Gregory, Attard, Blackwood, & Hodgins, 2014). Taken together with adult findings, smaller frontal and temporal regions and enlarged striatum are likely to contribute to impaired impulse control and emotional regulation, leading to the use of aggressive acts as a means to resolve conflict or obtain desirable outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of proactive and reactive aggression in adolescent twins

Yang

Joshi

Jahanshad

et al. 2016

Aggressive Behavior

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Verbal and physical aggression begin early in life and steadily decline thereafter in normal development. As a result, elevated aggressive behavior in adolescence may signal atypical development and greater vulnerability for negative mental and health outcomes. Converging evidence suggests that brain disturbances in regions involved in impulse control, emotional regulation, and sensation seeking may contribute to heightened aggression. However, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying subtypes of aggression (i.e., proactive and reactive aggression) and whether they differ between males and females. Using a sample of 106 14-year-old adolescent twins, this study found that striatal enlargement was associated with both proactive and reactive aggression. We also found that volumetric alterations in several frontal regions including smaller middle frontal and larger orbitofrontal cortex were correlated with higher levels of aggression in adolescent twins. In addition, cortical thickness analysis showed that thickness alterations in many overlapping regions including middle frontal, superior frontal, and anterior cingulate cortex and temporal regions were associated with aggression in adolescent twins. Results support the involvement of fronto-limbic-striatal circuit in the etiology of aggression during adolescence.

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Disentangling possible effects of childhood physical abuse on gray matter changes in violent offenders with psychopathy

Cited by 24 publications

References 24 publications

Reversal Learning Deficits in Criminal Offenders: Effects of Psychopathy, Substance use, and Childhood Maltreatment History

Reversal Learning Deficits in Criminal Offenders: Effects of Psychopathy, Substance use, and Childhood Maltreatment History

A Systematic Literature Review of Neuroimaging of Psychopathic Traits

Neural correlates of proactive and reactive aggression in adolescent twins

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