Psychopaths impose large costs on society, as they are frequently habitual, violent criminals. The pervasive nature of emotional and behavioral symptoms in psychopathy suggests that several associated brain regions may contribute to the disorder. Studies employing a variety of methods have converged on a set of brain regions in paralimbic cortex and limbic areas that appear to be dysfunctional in psychopathy. The present study further tests this hypothesis by investigating structural abnormalities using voxel-based morphometry in a sample of incarcerated men (N [H11005] 296). Psychopathy was associated with decreased regional gray matter in several paralimbic and limbic areas, including bilateral parahippocampal, amygdala, and hippocampal regions, bilateral temporal pole, posterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex. The consistent identification of paralimbic cortex and limbic structures in psychopathy across diverse methodologies strengthens the interpretation that these regions are crucial for understanding neural dysfunction in psychopathy.

Objective To investigate the relationship between brain structure and psychopathic traits in maximum-security incarcerated male adolescents: Do the associations between brain volumes in paralimbic and limbic regions and psychopathic traits observed in incarcerated adult men extend to an independent sample of incarcerated male adolescents? Method A structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of regional gray matter volumes (GMV) by using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in maximum-security incarcerated male adolescents (N=218) assessed for psychopathic traits using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Youth Version (PCL-YV). All analyses controlled for effects of age, substance use, and brain size. Results Consistent with hypotheses and the adult literature, psychopathic traits were associated with decreased regional GMV in diffuse paralimbic regions, including orbitofrontal cortex, bilateral temporal poles, and posterior cingulate cortex. Conclusions These results strengthen the interpretation that paralimbic regions are central for understanding neural dysfunction associated with psychopathic traits and that psychopathy is best conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental disorder.

We report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of healthy adult participants who completed a demanding Go/NoGo task. The primary purpose of this study was to delineate the neural systems underlying successful and unsuccessful response inhibition using a large sample (N = 102). We identified a number of regions uniquely engaged during successful response inhibition, including a fronto-parietal network involving the anterior cingulate, supplementary motor areas, lateral and inferior prefrontal regions, and the inferior parietal lobule. Unique hemodynamic activity was also noted in the amygdala and in frontostriatal regions including the inferior frontal gyrus and portions of the basal ganglia. Also, contrasts were defined to explore three variants of hemodynamic response allowing for more specificity in identifying the underlying cognitive mechanisms of response inhibition. Addressing issues raised by prior small sample studies, we identified a stable set of regions involved in successful response inhibition. The present results help to incrementally refine the specificity of the neural correlates of response inhibition.

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