Triarchic psychopathy and affective picture processing: An event-related potential study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Psychopathy is linked to abnormal affective responses and reduced empathy.
• The triarchic model defines psychopathy by boldness, meanness, and disinhibition.
• Understanding psychopathy's link to emotional processing aids in validating models and bridging psychopathological spectra.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between the triarchic model's traits (boldness, meanness, disinhibition) and psychophysiological/subjective responses to emotional stimuli.
• To clarify the role of meanness in blunted affective responses.
• To explore connections between psychopathy traits and other psychopathological dimensions.

Main Methods:

• 123 young adults viewed pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral images.
• Subjective ratings and electrocortical responses, specifically late positive potentials (LPPs), were recorded.
• Statistical analyses controlled for the influence of other triarchic traits.

Main Results:

• Higher meanness correlated with smaller LPPs to pleasant and unpleasant images.
• Meanness was associated with rating unpleasant images as more pleasant and less arousing.
• Boldness predicted larger LPPs to unpleasant images; disinhibition showed no significant associations.

Conclusions:

• Meanness significantly drives blunted responses to unpleasant stimuli in individuals high in psychopathy.
• Meanness may also reduce engagement with pleasant stimuli.
• Findings link psychopathy traits to broader psychopathological spectra, including internalizing symptoms.