Frontal lobe functions in psychopaths.

Abstract

It has been suggested that there are functional similarities between the behavior of organisms with lesions of the septum, hippocampus, and frontal cortex and the behavior of humans with disorders of impulse control. It was hypothesized, therefore, that psychopaths would exhibit deficits on tasks tapping the frontal lobe functions of cognitive flexibility and perseverance. Subjects were 20 psychopaths, 23 psychiatric controls, and 18 college students. Relative to controls, psychopaths exhibited the performance pattern of frontal lesion patients on all measures empirically related to frontal dysfunction: Perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, errors on the sequential matching memory task, and Necker Cube reversals. The results provide strong encouragement to pursue a conceptualization of psychopathy based on deficits in cognitive functions previously associated with the frontal lobe.

Executive–cognitive functioning in the development of antisocial personality disorder

“…Studies of psychopaths and violent criminals (Fedora & Fedora, 1983;Gorenstein, 1982;Yeudall & Fromm-Auch, 1979) have revealed differences in presumed ECF test performance -primarily in WCST and Trail-Making. The current study relies on DSM-III-R criteria rather than psychopathy checklists, and may account for the emergence of a verbal abstraction difference for the current ASPD sample.…”

Neurocognitive elements of antisocial behavior: Relevance of an orbitofrontal cortex account

“…Although there have been initial reports of neuropsychological impairments in psychopaths (Gorenstein, 1982), this finding has generally not been replicated (Hoffman, Hall, & Bartsch, 1987;Sutker & Allain, 1987), and these and other studies overwhelmingly conclude that neuropsychological function emphasizing cognitive processes is not different than for non-psychopaths (Hare, 1984;Hart, Forth, & Hare, 1990;Hoffman et al, 1987). A few exceptions are noted in studies where psychopaths were subdivided as a function of anxiety levels (Smith, Arnett, & Newman, 1992)-which is a construct that shares a complex relation with psychopathy (Frick, Lilienfeld, Ellis, Loney, & Silverthorn, 1999;, or as a function of whether psychopaths tend to be successful or not (i.e., the more successful have better dorsolateral frontal lobe ability; Ishikawa, Raine, Lencz, Bihrle, & LaCasse, 2001).…”

‘Narrow localizationalism’ in psychiatric neuropsychology

“…He raised the possibility that differences between his and Gorenstein's (1982) findings may relate to the fact that Gorenstein (1982) used psychopaths from a psychiatric population, whereas Hare's (1984) subjects came from a prison population. Nevertheless, given that individuals with antisocial or psychopathic behaviour tendencies are known to display a range of deficits on neuropsychological testing (Brickman et al 1984;Robbins et al 1983;Yeudall, 1977), it is not surprising that many of them may be found to show certain behavioural patterns and response characteristics (e.g.…”