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A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
Published on: February 20, 2019
Mesolimbic dopamine reward system hypersensitivity in individuals with psychopathic traits
Joshua W Buckholtz1, Michael T Treadway, Ronald L Cowan
1Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. joshua.buckholtz@vanderbilt.edu
None:
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that is strongly linked to criminal behavior. Using [(18)F]fallypride positron emission tomography and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that impulsive-antisocial psychopathic traits selectively predicted nucleus accumbens dopamine release and reward anticipation-related neural activity in response to pharmacological and monetary reinforcers, respectively. These findings suggest that neurochemical and neurophysiological hyper-reactivity of the dopaminergic reward system may comprise a neural substrate for impulsive-antisocial behavior and substance abuse in psychopathy.
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