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

Dargis, Monika; Wolf, Richard C.; Koenigs, Michael

doi:10.1007/s10862-016-9574-6

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…From a clinical perspective, this finding parallels the commonly seen inclination to keep exhibiting antisocial behaviour despite having faced criminal sanctions (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2011). More recent work, however, has pointed out that reversal learning deficits are found not only in offenders with high psychopathy scores but also in offenders with a subthreshold score on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003) (Dargis, Wolf, & Koenigs, 2017;Mitchell et al, 2006) and in offenders with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder without high psychopathy checklist scores (De Brito, Viding, Kumari, Blackwood, & Hodgins, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinforcement learning in child molesters

Dilliën

Goethals

Sabbe

et al. 2018

Criminal Behav Ment Health

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Background Child molesters form a heterogeneous group, but one generally shared characteristic is maladaptive, rigid behaviour. Impairments in reinforcement learning may explain these maladaptive tendencies, but this has not been systematically investigated. Further, it is not known if such impairments vary with subtype of child molesters. Aims To investigate the presence of impairments in reinforcement learning among child molesters and to test for differences in patterns of impairment with subtype. Methods A group of 59 child molesters was recruited from several prisons in a two‐stage screening process, the first using records and the second interview; a comparison group of 33 offenders who had never committed a sex offence and who denied paedophile ideation was similarly recruited; 36 nonoffender comparison men were recruited by social media and word of mouth. Each was asked to perform a probabilistic reversal learning task, in which stimulus‐outcome contingencies had to be learned. Results Child molesters, as a group, made significantly more errors on the probabilistic reversal learning task than the nonoffenders; the comparison offenders and the nonoffenders gained similar scores, although findings may have been confounded by older age in the child molester group. Nonpaedophilic child molesters had significantly worse scores than paedophilic child molesters. Conclusions Child molesters, especially those not diagnosed with paedophilia, have deficits during both the acquisition and reversal of contingencies, suggesting reinforcement learning deficits that may undermine their capacity to benefit maximally from therapy without preliminary work to repair those deficits, possibly in conjunction with extending the offender programmes. Testing before programme entry would enable accurate targeting of scarce resources in this respect.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinforcement learning in child molesters

Dilliën

Goethals

Sabbe

et al. 2018

Criminal Behav Ment Health

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“…A two-factor approach appears most common in research on psychopathic traits and EFs in incarcerated offenders. Several studies have found support for impulsive-antisocial traits being related to reduced EFs, while interpersonal-affective traits have been related to normal or even superior EFs ( 28 , 43 – 45 ), although results continue to be inconclusive ( 46 , 47 ). In the few studies that have investigated EFs in relation to the PCL-R four-facet structure, one found a positive association between working memory and interpersonal facet scores ( 26 ), and one has suggested the antisocial facet as related to poor response inhibition, while the affective facet has been related to better response inhibition ( 48 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Associations Between Psychopathic Traits and Executive Functions in Incarcerated Violent Offenders

et al. 2018

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Executive functions (EFs) are essential in almost all aspects of daily life and have been robustly related to antisocial behavior. However, the relationship between psychopathy and EFs has remained equivocal. Research investigating lower-level trait dimensions of psychopathy using standardized EF measures could be beneficial in addressing this issue. In this study, we examined associations between four EFs and four dimensions of psychopathic traits (interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, antisocial) using zero-order correlation and a combination of classical and Bayesian statistical methods. Two hundred and fourteen incarcerated male violent offenders were assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and completed tests of cognitive flexibility, spatial working memory, response inhibition, and planning and problem-solving using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Lifestyle psychopathic traits were significantly associated with reduced initial thinking time in a planning and problem-solving task, with a Bayes factor indicating substantial evidence for the observed correlation, and antisocial psychopathic traits showed a significant association with reduced initial thinking time in the same task, although the Bayes factor indicated only anecdotal evidence. Significant associations were also found between affective and antisocial psychopathic traits and less efficient strategic thinking in a spatial working memory task, and between affective, lifestyle and antisocial psychopathic traits and fewer problems solved in a planning and problem-solving task, although these findings were not corroborated by the Bayesian analysis. While the observed effects ranged between small and medium, our study suggests that reduced initial thinking times in planning and problem-solving is robustly associated with higher degrees of lifestyle and antisocial psychopathic traits.

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“…These results raise the possibility of using learning estimates (e.g., v) to detect differences in this population. Moreover, reversal-learning tasks have been used to investigate PTs given their sensitive properties to identify individual differences (Budhani et al, 2006;Gillan et al, 2016;Dargis et al, 2017). Using a multivariable linear regression model, we showed how behavioral differences on the reversal-learning task contained information about the PTs from the HiTOP specters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Multimetric behavioral profile and psychological traits

Mt¹,

Castiello²,

B³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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External sources of information determine human actions. However, psychological traits (PTs), considered internal variables, also play a crucial role in decision-making. PTs are stable across time and contexts, and they define the set of behavioral repertoires that individuals express. Here, we explored how multiple metrics of adaptive behavior under uncertainty related to several PTs. Participants solved a multiple baseline reversal-learning task with volatile contingencies, from where we characterized a detailed behavioral profile based on a wide variety of measurements from their response sequences. We then tested the relationship between the multimetric behavioral profile and a wide range of self-reported psychological questionnaires. The PT measurements were based on the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model. We found that the learning curves alone predicted important differences in the PTs, and task response times. Similarly, the behavioral profile configurations predicted the PTs, and could be used as a ‘fingerprint’ to identify participants with a high certainty level. We discuss how this characterization could contribute to constructing a better nosological classification.

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

Cited by 17 publications

References 71 publications

Reinforcement learning in child molesters

Reinforcement learning in child molesters

Examining Associations Between Psychopathic Traits and Executive Functions in Incarcerated Violent Offenders

Multimetric behavioral profile and psychological traits

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