Selective attention and executive functions deficits among criminal psychopaths

Abstract

The present study examined whether psychopaths exhibit deficits in selective attention and executive functions. Prison inmates were assigned to either a “psychopath” group or a “control” group according to their scores on the PCL‐R [Hare, 1991: Toronto, Multi‐Health Systems]. The two groups were compared in terms of performance on the following tests: (1) D‐II cancellation, (2) Porteus Maze, (3) Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting, (4) Stroop Color Word Interference, (5) Trail Making, and (6) Tower of London. The results support the hypothesis of selective attention and specific executive function deficits among psychopaths. Specifically, psychopaths' abilities to maintain a plan and to inhibit irrelevant information were inferior to those of control participants. Aggr. Behav. 29:393–405, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Using basic neurobiological measures in criminological research

“…In addition, not only antisocial behavior in general is associated with brain deficits, it appears that between individuals with antisocial behavior, a high variation exists in neuropsychological deficits. For example, inmates with high psychopathic traits appear to show more selective attention problems, compared to non-psychopathic inmates (Hiatt et al 2004;Pham et al 2003). Hoaken et al (2007) demonstrated that incarcerated violent offenders performed significantly more poorly at a cognitive empathy task, compared to non-violent offenders.…”

Traumatic Brain Injury and Executive Functioning in an Incarcerated Sample

“…In contrast, research investigating TBI in incarcerated populations has focused almost exclusively on its relationship to violent behavior. A number of studies have examined the neuropsychological functioning of select groups of offenders, such as those on death row (Lewis, Pincus, Feldman, Jackson, & Bard, 1986;Hanlon, Rubin, Jensen, & Daoust, 2010) and those identified as psychopaths (Pham, Vanderstukken, Philippot, & Vanderlinden, 2003), while others have looked for relationships between neuropsychological functioning and antisocial behaviors (Cohen, Rosenbaum, Kane, Wamken, & Benjamin, 1999;Morgan & Lilienfeld, 2000).…”

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

“…They found that performance on two measures of cool executive function, the Trail-Making Part B (TMT-B) and Block Design test, was impaired in the low anxious psychopaths only, reflecting an impairment in their ability to plan a sequence of events (TMT-B), and their ability to form and maintain a cognitive set, cognitive flexibility, and attention (Block design). These findings and those from Pham et al (2003) suggest that there is some dysfunction in psychopathic individuals on tasks of cool executive function.…”

“…The intuitive appeal of the executive dysfunction hypothesis has led to a flurry of research examining executive function processes in psychopathic individuals (e.g., Bagshaw et al, 2014;De Brito, Viding, Kumari, Blackwood, & Hodgins, 2013;Dolan, 2012;Ishikawa et al, 2001;Mahmut, Homewood, & Stevenson, 2008;Mol, Van Den Bos, Derks, & Egger, 2009;Pham, Vanderstukken, Philippot, & Vanderlinden, 2003;Ross, Benning, & Adams, 2007;Sellbom & Verona, 2007;Snowden, Gray, Pugh, & Atkinson, 2013). However, research findings to date are contradictory and clouded by methodological inconsistencies in the measurement of psychopathy, the types of executive function studied (e.g., cool executive functions or hot executive functions), the measurement of executive function utilised, and demographic differences between samples (e.g., male criminal offender samples, male community samples, or mixed gender community samples).…”

“…In addition to the attentional abnormalities, there is also accumulating evidence of executive dysfunction in criminal psychopathic individuals, such as poor behavioural inhibition (Newman & Brinkley, 1997), difficulties planning a sequence of events (Lapierre, Braun, & Hodgins, 1995;Pham et al, 2003), difficulties changing response strategies to changing environmental contingencies (Ishikawa et al, 2001), and poor decision-making .…”