Abnormalities of the late positive potential during emotional processing in individuals with psychopathic traits: a meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundIndividuals with psychopathic traits display deficits in emotional processing. A key event-related potential component involved in emotional processing is the late positive potential (LPP). In healthy controls, LPP amplitude is greater in response to negative stimuli than to positive or neutral stimuli. In the current study, we aimed to compare LPP amplitudes between individuals with psychopathic traits and control subjects when presented with negative, positive or neutral stimuli. We hypothesized that LPP amplitude evoked by emotional stimuli would be reduced in individuals with psychopathic traits compared to healthy controls.MethodsAfter a systematic review of the literature, we conducted a meta-analysis to compare LPP amplitude elicited by emotional stimuli in individuals with psychopathic traits and healthy controls.ResultsIndividuals with psychopathic traits showed significantly reduced LPP amplitude evoked by negative stimuli (mean effect size = −0.47; 95% CI −0.60 to −0.33; p < 0.005) compared to healthy controls. No significant differences between groups were observed for the processing of positive (mean effect size = −0.15; 95% CI −0.42 to 0.12; p = 0.28) and neutral stimuli (mean effect size = −0.12; 95% CI 0.31 to 0.07; p = 0.21).ConclusionsMeasured by LPP amplitude, individuals with psychopathic traits displayed abnormalities in the processing of emotional stimuli with negative valence whereas processing of stimuli with positive and neutral valence was unchanged as compared with healthy controls.

Attention‐affect interactions and triarchic psychopathy: New electrophysiological insights from the late positive potential

“…In the present study we observed blunted elaborative processing of both positive and negative valence material, which seems to be at odds with some theoretical models emphasizing deficient emotional responding towards aversive material only (e.g., Low fear model; Lykken, 1995). In this regard, it is worth noting that while previous empirical (Ellis et al, 2017;Medina et al, 2016;Sadeh & Verona, 2012;Venables et al, 2015), and metaanalytic work (Vallet et al, 2020), has demonstrated stronger negative associations between LPP amplitudes to negative stimuli and psychopathic traits, most of these studies have employed aversive and neutral stimuli only (but see Medina et al, 2016;Venables et al, 2015), devoting comparatively limited attention to the elaborative processing of positive stimuli (as indexed by the LPP) in individuals varying in psychopathic traits.…”

“…A recent systematic review covering EEG research in psychopathy (Clark et al, 2019) indicated that one of the most pronounced differences between individuals high and low in psychopathic traits during the processing of affective stimuli was evident for the LPP response, with a majority of studies showing lower LPP amplitudes in high psychopathic individuals. Corroborating this observation, a recent meta‐analysis found a significant reduction of LPP amplitudes for affectively relevant (especially unpleasant) stimuli in individuals with psychopathic traits (Vallet et al, 2020). However, due to the wide variety of task designs and assessment tools used, as well as differences in the conceptualization of psychopathy (unitary vs. multidimensional), it is difficult to draw conclusions about the modulatory role of attentional processes, and the unique contribution of each of the dimensions of psychopathy to deficits in affective processing, as indexed by reduced LPP amplitudes.…”

Exploring psychopathy traits on intertemporal decision-making, neurophysiological correlates, and emotions on time estimation in community adults

“…In addition, other studies have revealed no differences between groups with high and low psychopathic traits in LPP amplitudes evoked by emotional stimuli (e.g., Eisenbarth et al., 2013 ). A recent meta-analysis ( Vallet et al., 2019 ) suggests a reduction of the LPP evoked by unpleasant stimuli and a normal LPP response to pleasant and neutral stimuli, specific to individuals with psychopathy. We based the formulation of our hypotheses on this most recent study.…”

Integrating the pattern of negative emotion processing and acute stress response with childhood stress among healthy young adults

“…The LPP was defined as the mean amplitude in the time window of 300-1000 ms at the parietal region (P1, Pz, and P2). The electrodes and time window were chosen according to previous literature (Hajcak & Foti, 2020; Vallet et al, 2020). To increase stability of the data, the mean LPP amplitude was calculated by averaging the LPP amplitude across the P1, Pz, and P2 electrodes.…”