Psychopathy and Brain Function: Empirical Findings and Legal Implications

Patrick, Christopher J.; Venables, Noah C.; Skeem, Jennifer L.

doi:10.1002/9781119944980.ch3

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…As a further point, our finding of diverging relations for primary and secondary psychopathy with internalizing problems may help to clarify contradictory findings for physiological variables in relation to psychopathy, such as P300 event-related potential response (Raine, 1989) or activity of brain structures such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex during affective cuing (Patrick, Venables, & Skeem, 2012). Some physiological response anomalies may be more associated with fearless tendencies characteristic of primary psychopathy, others more associated with disinhibitory-externalizing tendencies characteristic of secondary psychopathy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Distinct variants of extreme psychopathic individuals in society at large: Evidence from a population-based sample.

Drislane¹,

Patrick²,

Sourander³

et al. 2014

Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment

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This study used model-based cluster analysis to identify subtypes of men who scored high in overall psychopathy (i.e., ≥ 95th percentile on the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; n = 193) from a larger sample evaluated for service in the Finnish military (N= 4043). Cluster variates consisted of scores on distinct facets of psychopathy together with a measure of negative affectivity. The best-fitting model specified two clusters, representing ‘primary’ (n = 110) and ‘secondary’ psychopathy (n = 83) groups. Compared to a low-psychopathy comparison group (n = 1878), both psychopathy subgroups showed markedly elevated levels of externalizing symptoms and criminal behavior. Secondary psychopathic participants also reported high levels of internalizing problems including anxiousness, depression, and somatization, and scored higher on the disinhibition facet of psychopathy relative to the primary group. By contrast, primary psychopathic individuals reported fewer internalizing problems than either the secondary psychopathy or comparison groups and scored higher on the boldness facet of psychopathy. Primary psychopathic participants also had higher rates of violent crimes than the secondary psychopaths. Implications for conceptualizing and studying psychopathy in non-forensic populations are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Distinct variants of extreme psychopathic individuals in society at large: Evidence from a population-based sample.

Drislane¹,

Patrick²,

Sourander³

et al. 2014

Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment

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show abstract

“…A growing body of published neuroimaging research on psychopathy has appeared over the past decade, providing another basis for inferences about basic mechanisms. These studies use either structural-imaging methods focusing on volume differences in specific brain regions or functional-imaging techniques focusing on activity differences within specific brain regions during performance of affective or cognitive tasks (for recent reviews, see: Koenigs, Baskin-Sommers, Zeier, & Newman, 2011; Patrick, Venables, & Skeem, in press; Y. Yang & Raine, 2009).…”

Section: Research Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We believe that most attempts to apply current neuroscience on psychopathy to legal decisions about criminal responsibility and sentencing are premature. First, this research is methodologically limited, with small samples, diverse designs, and an assortment of nonreplicated findings (for a review, see Patrick et al, in press). Before the difficult process of validly applying group-based research findings to an individual case can be undertaken, there must be a coherent set of findings to apply.…”

Section: Research Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychopathic Personality

Skeem

Polaschek

Patrick

et al. 2011

Psychol Sci Public Interest

486

182

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“…Several studies have investigated relations between psychopathy and amplitude of the P3 (or P300) event‐related potential (ERP) response by comparing groups of offenders classified as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic according to overall scores on Hare's () Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL‐R; for reviews, see Gao & Raine, ; Patrick, Venables, & Skeem, ). Kiehl et al.…”

Section: Psychopathy and P3 Brain Potential Amplitudementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have investigated relations between psychopathy and amplitude of the P3 (or P300) 1 event-related potential (ERP) response by comparing groups of offenders classified as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic according to overall scores on Hare's (2003) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; for reviews, see Gao & Raine, 2009;Patrick, Venables, & Skeem, 2012). Kiehl et al (1999) reported that high psychopathic offenders exhibited smaller target P3 amplitude than nonpsychopaths over central and parietal recording sites during a classic visual P3 oddball task.…”

Section: Psychopathy and P3 Brain Potential Amplitudementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling discrepant findings for P3 brain response in criminal psychopathy through reference to the concept of externalizing proneness

Venables

Patrick

2014

Psychophysiology

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We sought to address inconsistencies in the literature on amplitude of P3 brain potential response in offenders diagnosed with psychopathy. These inconsistencies contrast with the reliable finding of reduced P3 in relation to externalizing tendencies, which overlap with impulsive-antisocial features of psychopathy, as distinguished from the affective-interpersonal features. Employing a sample of incarcerated male offenders (N=154) who completed Hare’s (2003) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised along with a three-stimulus visual oddball task, we tested the hypothesis that impulsive-antisocial features of psychopathy would selectively exhibit an inverse relationship with P3 amplitude. Clear support for this hypothesis was obtained. Our findings clarify the discrepant findings regarding psychopathy and P3, and establish P3 as a neurophysiological point of contact between psychopathy and externalizing proneness from the broader psychopathology literature.

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Psychopathy and Brain Function: Empirical Findings and Legal Implications

Cited by 11 publications

References 97 publications

Distinct variants of extreme psychopathic individuals in society at large: Evidence from a population-based sample.

Distinct variants of extreme psychopathic individuals in society at large: Evidence from a population-based sample.

Psychopathic Personality

Reconciling discrepant findings for P3 brain response in criminal psychopathy through reference to the concept of externalizing proneness

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