The Role of Structural Brain Networks in Psychopathy and Its Relation to Externalizing Behaviors

Externalizing behaviors are particularly pronounced in the context of psychopathy. Recent neurobiological models suggest that psychopathy may be associated with abnormalities in brain network connectivity, which could contribute to its development and its links to externalizing behaviors. However, the specific structural networks contributing to psychopathy and its relation to externalizing behaviors remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the structural connectivity associated with psychopathy and its relation to externalizing behaviors in 82 young adults from the MPI Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body dataset. A structural connectome-based prediction model with leave-one-out cross-validation identified both positive and negative networks associated with psychopathy. Specifically, the positive network involved regions related to social-affective processing, language, and reward systems, while the negative network was associated with regions involved in attention modulation. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed two potential neural pathways from psychopathic traits to externalizing behaviors via emotional processing and attention modulation networks. These findings suggest that alterations in structural connectivity play a significant role in psychopathy and may underlie the externalizing behaviors observed in individuals with the disorder.