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Emotion and psychopathy: startling new insights.

C J Patrick1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1051, USA.

Psychophysiology
|July 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary

Psychopaths exhibit abnormal affective responses, specifically a lack of startle reflex potentiation to aversive stimuli. This emotional deficit, particularly in fear response, may represent an extreme variant of normal temperament.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Psychopathy is characterized by abnormal affective responses.
  • Emotion theory involves appetitive and defensive motivational systems.
  • The startle response measures emotional activation direction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the startle response in psychopaths.
  • To determine if psychopaths show normal potentiation of the startle reflex to aversive stimuli.
  • To explore the link between affective symptoms and emotional deficits in psychopathy.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on psychopathy and startle response.
  • Analysis of startle reflex potentiation during processing of aversive stimuli (e.g., unpleasant photographs, punishment cues).

Main Results:

  • Criminal psychopaths do not exhibit the expected potentiation of the startle reflex.
  • This deviant response pattern is specific to individuals with classic affective symptoms of psychopathy.
  • Evidence suggests a deficit in fear response, defined as a failure of aversive cues to prime defensive actions.

Conclusions:

  • The core emotional deviation in psychopathy may be a deficit in fear response.
  • This emotional deficit could be an extreme variant of normal temperament.
  • Abnormal affective response in psychopaths is linked to motivational system dysregulation.

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