Functional Connectivity Bias in the Prefrontal Cortex of Psychopaths
Oren Contreras-Rodríguez1, Jesus Pujol2, Iolanda Batalla3
1Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBELL (OC-R, CS-M, RH-R, JMM, NC), Psychiatry Department, Bellvitge University Hospital, CIBERSAM at Barcelona; Department of Clinical Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience F. Olóriz (OC-R), University of Granada; MRI Research Unit (OC-R, JPu, BJH, JD, ML-S, DM), CRC Mar, Hospital del Mar at Barcelona, Spain.
Background:
Psychopathy is characterized by a distinctive interpersonal style that combines callous-unemotional traits with inflexible and antisocial behavior. Traditional emotion-based perspectives link emotional impairment mostly to alterations in amygdala-ventromedial frontal circuits. However, these models alone cannot explain why individuals with psychopathy can regularly benefit from emotional information when placed on their focus of attention and why they are more resistant to interference from nonaffective contextual cues. The present study aimed to identify abnormal or distinctive functional links between and within emotional and cognitive brain systems in the psychopathic brain to characterize further the neural bases of psychopathy.
Methods:
High-resolution anatomic magnetic resonance imaging with a functional sequence acquired in the resting state was used to assess 22 subjects with psychopathy and 22 control subjects. Anatomic and functional connectivity alterations were investigated first using a whole-brain analysis. Brain regions showing overlapping anatomic and functional changes were examined further using seed-based functional connectivity mapping.
Results:
Subjects with psychopathy showed gray matter reduction involving prefrontal cortex, paralimbic, and limbic structures. Anatomic changes overlapped with areas showing increased degree of functional connectivity at the medial-dorsal frontal cortex. Subsequent functional seed-based connectivity mapping revealed a pattern of reduced functional connectivity of prefrontal areas with limbic-paralimbic structures and enhanced connectivity within the dorsal frontal lobe in subjects with psychopathy.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that a weakened link between emotional and cognitive domains in the psychopathic brain may combine with enhanced functional connections within frontal executive areas. The identified functional alterations are discussed in the context of potential contributors to the inflexible behavior displayed by individuals with psychopathy.
More Related Videos
06:42Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
09:38Generalized Psychophysiological Interaction PPI Analysis of Memory Related Connectivity in Individuals at Genetic Risk for Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: November 14, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
Functional Brain Systems: Limbic System
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Behavioral Characteristics and...
Dark Triad and Person Perception
Functional Brain Systems: Reticular Formation
Within the reticular formation, there are several distinct nuclei that can be classified into three broad categories. The Raphe nuclei are located along the midline of the brainstem. They are primarily known for their role in synthesizing and releasing serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in regulating mood, appetite, sleep, and circadian rhythms. The...
Correspondence Bias
