Reduced Amygdala Response to Fearful Expressions in Children and Adolescents With Callous-Unemotional Traits and Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Marsh, Abigail A.; Finger, Elizabeth; Mitchell, Derek; Reid, Marguerite E.; Sims, Courtney; Kosson, David S.; Towbin, Kenneth E.; Leibenluft, Ellen; Pine, Daniel S.; Blair, James

doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07071145

Cited by 726 publications

(697 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Blair, Mitchell and Blair (2005) suggest that an inborn affective deficit might interfere with the development of attachment in some individuals with psychopathic traits. This deficit is related to amygdala hypoactivity (Birbaumer et al, 2005;Marsh et al, 2008;Viding et al, 2014). Recent studies corroborate this by showing that adequate amygdala activity is related to attachment security (Lemche et al, 2006;Riem et al, 2012;Vrtička, Andersson, Grandjean, Sander, & Vuilleumier, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Examining psychopathy from an attachment perspective: the role of fear of rejection and abandonment

Conradi

Boertien

Cavus

et al. 2015

The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

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(144 words)A key feature of psychopathy, a self-centered orientation towards others and a failure to truly connect, is poorly understood. The attachment framework can be used to examine underlying interpersonal mechanisms. Because of the overall failure to connect we anticipated, and found, in a large undergraduate sample (n=1,074), that both affective-interpersonal traits and impulsiveirresponsible psychopathy facets were positively related to attachment avoidance. Different dynamics may underlie this distancing from others, as evidenced by the fact that callousunemotionality was negatively related to attachment anxiety, whereas grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-irresponsible traits were positively related to attachment anxiety. Although effect sizes were small and are of correlational nature, our results are in line with a dual deficit model that differential developmental trajectories, largely heritable callousness versus neglecting and abusive parenting, may lead to adult psychopathy. The differentiating role of fear of rejection and abandonment for the psychopathy construct is discussed. 3-6

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Examining psychopathy from an attachment perspective: the role of fear of rejection and abandonment

Conradi

Boertien

Cavus

et al. 2015

The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

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“…All juvenile offenders had to fulfill criteria for CD with at least one aggressive symptom (e.g., used a weapon, has been physically cruel to people, has stolen while confronting a victim). Consonant with recent neurobiological work on juvenile psychopathy [Cohn et al, 2014, 2015; Fairchild et al, 2013; Marsh et al, 2008; Pape et al, 2015], the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) [Andershed et al, 2002] was used to assess psychopathic traits in conduct‐disordered juvenile offenders. The YPI is a widely used instrument composed of 50 self‐report items that assess adult psychopathy‐like personality traits in juveniles, with adequate validity and reliability [Neumann and Pardini, 2014; Pihet et al, 2014; Poythress et al, 2006].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociable relations between amygdala subregional networks and psychopathy trait dimensions in conduct‐disordered juvenile offenders

Aghajani

Colins

Klapwijk

et al. 2016

Human Brain Mapping

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Psychopathy is a serious psychiatric phenomenon characterized by a pathological constellation of affective (e.g., callous, unemotional), interpersonal (e.g., manipulative, egocentric), and behavioral (e.g., impulsive, irresponsible) personality traits. Though amygdala subregional defects are suggested in psychopathy, the functionality and connectivity of different amygdala subnuclei is typically disregarded in neurocircuit‐level analyses of psychopathic personality. Hence, little is known of how amygdala subregional networks may contribute to psychopathy and its underlying trait assemblies in severely antisocial people. We addressed this important issue by uniquely examining the intrinsic functional connectivity of basolateral (BLA) and centromedial (CMA) amygdala networks in relation to affective, interpersonal, and behavioral traits of psychopathy, in conduct‐disordered juveniles with a history of serious delinquency (N = 50, mean age = 16.83 ± 1.32). As predicted, amygdalar connectivity profiles exhibited dissociable relations with different traits of psychopathy. Interpersonal psychopathic traits not only related to increased connectivity of BLA and CMA with a corticostriatal network formation accommodating reward processing, but also predicted stronger CMA connectivity with a network of cortical midline structures supporting sociocognitive processes. In contrast, affective psychopathic traits related to diminished CMA connectivity with a frontolimbic network serving salience processing and affective responding. Finally, behavioral psychopathic traits related to heightened BLA connectivity with a frontoparietal cluster implicated in regulatory executive functioning. We suggest that these trait‐specific shifts in amygdalar connectivity could be particularly relevant to the psychopathic phenotype, as they may fuel a self‐centered, emotionally cold, and behaviorally disinhibited profile. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4017–4033, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…Two studies found that psychopathic incarcerated adolescents had decreased grey matter volumes in the orbitofrontal cortex (Ermer et al, 2012;Cope, Ermer, Nyalakanti, Calhoun, & Kiehl, 2014). Functionally, Finger et al (2008) showed abnormal ventromedial prefrontal functioning during probabilistic reversal tasks in youths (aged 10-17) with psychopathic traits. Reversal learning tasks require the subject to switch a response once a previously reinforced, rewarded response to a stimulus is no longer reinforced.…”

Section: Prefrontal Cortexmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Adolescents with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits show less amygdala responsiveness to fearful faces (but not other emotional expressions) compared to healthy controls (Marsh et al, 2008;Jones, Laurens, Herba, Barker, & Viding, 2009;White et al 2012;Lozier, Cardinale, VanMeter, & Marsh, 2014) and compared to children with conduct problems but low callous-unemotional traits . Several studies have used other methods to measure emotion processing and interpretation Marsh et al, 2013).…”

Section: Amygdalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain imaging research on psychopathy: Implications for punishment, prediction, and treatment in youth and adults

Umbach

Berryessa

Raine

2015

Journal of Criminal Justice

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While there has been an exponential increase in brain imaging research on psychopathy in the past two decades, knowledge on the brain basis to child and adolescent psychopathic-like behavior is relatively new. This adult and child research has potential future implications for the development of new interventions, prediction of future offending, and punishment. This review examines both adult and child literatures on the neural basis of psychopathy, together with implications for the criminal justice system. The adult imaging literature provides growing evidence for amygdala structural and functional impairments in psychopaths, and more variable evidence for prefrontal deficits. The emerging child and adolescent imaging literature with notable exceptions broadly parallels these adult findings and may help explain the development of fearlessness, disinhibition, and lack of empathy. This knowledge places policy makers at a crossroads. Should new biological interventions be developed to remediate these brain abnormalities? Would imaging be used in the future to predict offending? Could imaging findings help excuse psychopathic behavior or alternatively argue for longer sentences for public protection? This review attempts to address these issues at the child and adult levels and provides directions for future research that include the incorporation of biological measures into treatment programs. AbstractWhile there has been an exponential increase in brain imaging research on psychopathy in the past two decades, knowledge on the brain basis to child and adolescent psychopathic-like behavior is relatively new. This adult and child research has potential future implications for the development of new interventions, prediction of future offending, and punishment. This review examines both adult and child literatures on the neural basis of psychopathy, together with implications for the criminal justice system. The adult imaging literature provides growing evidence for amygdala structural and functional impairments in psychopaths, and more variable evidence for prefrontal deficits. The emerging child and adolescent imaging literature with notable exceptions broadly parallels these adult findings and may help explain the development of fearlessness, disinhibition, and lack of empathy. This knowledge places policy makers at a crossroads. Should new biological interventions be developed to remediate these brain abnormalities? Would imaging be used in the future to predict offending? Could imaging findings help excuse psychopathic behavior or alternatively argue for longer sentences for public protection? This review attempts to address these issues at the child and adult levels and provides directions for future research that include the incorporation of biological measures into treatment programs.4

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Reduced Amygdala Response to Fearful Expressions in Children and Adolescents With Callous-Unemotional Traits and Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Abstract: This is the first study to demonstrate reduced amygdala responsiveness in youths with callous-unemotional traits. These findings support the contention that callous and unemotional personality traits are associated with reduced amygdala response to distress-based social cues.

Cited by 726 publications

References 51 publications

Examining psychopathy from an attachment perspective: the role of fear of rejection and abandonment

Examining psychopathy from an attachment perspective: the role of fear of rejection and abandonment

Dissociable relations between amygdala subregional networks and psychopathy trait dimensions in conduct‐disordered juvenile offenders

Brain imaging research on psychopathy: Implications for punishment, prediction, and treatment in youth and adults

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