Facial affect recognition in criminal psychopaths.

Prior studies provide consistent evidence of deficits for psychopaths in processing verbal emotional material but are inconsistent regarding nonverbal emotional material. To examine whether psychopaths exhibit general versus specific deficits in nonverbal emotional processing, 34 psychopaths and 33 nonpsychopaths identified with Hare's (R. D. Hare, 1991) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised were asked to complete a facial affect recognition test. Slides of prototypic facial expressions were presented. Three hypotheses regarding hemispheric lateralization anomalies in psychopaths were also tested (right-hemisphere dysfunction, reduced lateralization, and reversed lateralization). Psychopaths were less accurate than nonpsychopaths at classifying facial affect under conditions promoting reliance on right-hemisphere resources and displayed a specific deficit in classifying disgust. These findings demonstrate that psychopaths exhibit specific deficits in nonverbal emotional processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male psychopaths and their criminal careers.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were used to examine the criminal histories of male psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. Dependent variables included time spent in prison and conviction rates during each 5-year period between the ages of 16–45 years. Both types of analysis indicated that the criminal activities of nonpsychopaths were relatively constant over the years, whereas those of psychopaths remained high until around age 40, after which they declined dramatically. Nevertheless, more than half of the subjects in each group still received at least one conviction after age 40. The results are consistent with clinical impressions that some psychopaths tend to "burn out" in middle age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aberrant neural processing of moral violations in criminal psychopaths.

A defining characteristic of psychopathy is the willingness to intentionally commit moral transgressions against others without guilt or remorse. Despite this “moral insensitivity,” the behavioral and neural correlates of moral decision-making in psychopathy have not been well studied. To address this issue, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record hemodynamic activity in 72 incarcerated male adults, stratified into psychopathic (n = 16) and nonpsychopathic (n = 16) groups based on scores from the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (R. D. Hare, 2003), while they made decisions regarding the severity of moral violations of pictures that did or did not depict moral situations. Consistent with hypotheses, an analysis of brain activity during the evaluation of pictures depicting moral violations in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths showed atypical activity in several regions involved in moral decision-making. This included reduced moral/nonmoral picture distinctions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior temporal cortex in psychopaths relative to nonpsychopaths. In a separate analysis, the association between severity of moral violation ratings and brain activity across participants was compared in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths. Results revealed a positive association between amygdala activity and severity ratings that was greater in nonpsychopaths than psychopaths, and a negative association between posterior temporal activity and severity ratings that was greater in psychopaths than nonpsychopaths. These results reveal potential neural underpinnings of moral insensitivity in psychopathy and are discussed with reference to neurobiological models of morality and psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain potentials implicate temporal lobe abnormalities in criminal psychopaths.

Psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in attention and orienting. However, few studies have examined the neural systems underlying these processes. To address this issue, the authors recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while 80 incarcerated men, classified as psychopathic or nonpsychopathic via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (R. D. Hare, 1991, 2003), completed an auditory oddball task. Consistent with hypotheses, processing of targets elicited larger frontocentral negativities (N550) in psychopaths than in nonpsychopaths. Psychopaths also showed an enlarged N2 and reduced P3 during target detection. Similar ERP modulations have been reported in patients with amygdala and temporal lobe damage. The data are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that psychopathy may be related to dysfunction of the paralimbic system--a system that includes parts of the temporal and frontal lobes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anxiety and sex on neuropsychological tests.

Studied the effects of anxiety and sex on performance of 30 male and 30 female right-handed college students on the Finger Tapping (FT), Form Board (FB), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory tests. The original cutoff points for brain damage on the neuropsychological tests resulted in numerous false positives. Females performed significantly slower on the FT than males, and for females, trait anxiety was negatively correlated with FT performance and positively correlated with time to complete the FB. Implications for testing psychiatric patients are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of psychopaths on cognitive tasks related to frontal lobe function.

On the basis of their performance on several cognitive tasks, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Necker Cube, and a sequential matching memory task (SMMT), E. E. Gorenstein (see record 1983-01261-001) concluded that psychopaths have specific deficits in cognitive processes associated with frontal-lobe functioning. However, it is argued that his diagnostic procedures were inadequate and his results confounded by group differences in age, education, general ability, and substance abuse. In the present study, the WCST, Necker Cube, and SMMT were administered to 46 male prison inmates divided into low-, medium-, and high-psychopathy groups on the basis of a 22-item checklist developed by the present author (see record 1982-02477-001). ANOVAs and ANCOVAs (with age, education, IQ, and substance use as covariates) failed to detect any group differences in task performance. Similar results were obtained when diagnoses were based on the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory and the DSM-III criteria for antisocial personality disorder and when multiple criteria were used. Some general problems associated with attempts to explain psychopathy in terms of brain damage or dysfunction are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of male psychopaths following conditional release from prison.

The Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) was administered to 231 White male criminals prior to their release from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. Official parole supervision files provided details of each criminal's behavior during his supervised release. The PCL made a significant contribution to the prediction of outcome beyond that made by several key criminal-history and demographic variables. The percentage of criminals with low, medium, and high PCL scores who violated the conditions of release was 23.5, 48.9, and 65.2, respectively. The probability of remaining out of prison for at least 1 year was .80, .54, and .38 for low, medium, and high groups, respectively. The high group members received more suspensions and presented more supervisory problems than did those in the other groups. The results provide support for the validity of the PCL and for the view that it is possible to make useful predictions about some aspects of the criminal psychopath's behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminative validity of various intelligence and neuropsychological tests.

Compared the discriminative validities of the WAIS, the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery (HRNTB), and the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) with regard to predicting presence or absence of brain damage in 84 neuropsychiatric patients who were divided into brain-damaged (mean age 48.61 yrs) and non-brain-damaged (mean age 43.48 yrs) Ss. Discriminant analysis showed that percentages of correct classification were lower for the WAIS than for the other procedures. A hierarchical analysis indicated that the addition of variables from the HRNTB and LNNB procedures increased discriminative validity above what was obtained on the basis of the WAIS. The discriminative validities of the HRNTB and the LNNB procedures were essentially equal to each other. It is concluded that it is worthwhile to administer the HRNTB and the LNNB in doing neuropsychological assessments despite the reported high correlations between indices derived from these batteries and measures of general intellectual function. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic stress reactivity and executive functions in successful and unsuccessful criminal psychopaths from the community.

A significant gap in the psychopathy literature is the lack of studies comparing "successful," nonconvicted psychopaths with "unsuccessful," convicted psychopaths. This study tested the hypothesis that successful psychopaths show increased autonomic stress reactivity and better neuropsychological function compared with unsuccessful psychopaths. A total of 26 controls, 16 unsuccessful psychopaths, and 13 successful psychopaths were assessed on psychophysiological measures recorded during an emotional manipulation, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised subtests, and childhood stressors. Compared with controls, unsuccessful psychopaths showed reduced cardiovascular stress reactivity. In contrast, successful psychopaths showed heightened reactivity, better WCST performance, and more parental absence than unsuccessful psychopaths and controls. The implications of these findings and the generalizability of existing psychopathy research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection measures in real-life criminal guilty knowledge tests.

Provides a 1st attempt to compare the validity of the respiration line length (RLL) and skin resistance response (SRR) amplitude in real-life criminal guilty knowledge tests (GKTs). GKT records of 40 innocent and 40 guilty Ss, for whom actual truth was established by confession, were assessed for their accuracy. When a predefined decision rule was used and inconclusive decisions were excluded, 97.4% of the innocent Ss and 53.3% of the guilty Ss were correctly classified with the SRR measure. For the RLL measure, the respective results were 97.2% and 53.1%. The combination of both measures improved detection of guilty Ss to 75.8% and decreased detection of innocent Ss to 94.1%. The combined measure seems to be a more useful means of identifying guilty suspects than each physiological measure alone. The results elaborate and extend those obtained in a previous field study (E. Elaad, 1990). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement invariance of neuropsychological tests in diverse older persons.

Objective: Comparability of meaning of neuropsychological test results across ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups is important for clinicians challenged with assessing increasing numbers of older ethnic minorities. We examined the dimensional structure of a neuropsychological test battery in linguistically and demographically diverse older adults. Method: The Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales (SENAS), developed to provide psychometrically sound measures of cognition for multiethnic and multilingual applications, was administered to a community dwelling sample of 760 Whites, 443 African Americans, 451 English-speaking Hispanics, and 882 Spanish-speaking Hispanics. Cognitive function spanned a broad range from normal to mildly impaired to demented. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine equivalence of the dimensional structure for the SENAS across the groups defined by language and ethnicity. Results: Covariance among 16 SENAS tests was best explained by five cognitive dimensions corresponding to episodic memory, semantic memory/language, spatial ability, attention/working memory, and verbal fluency. Multiple Group confirmatory factor analysis supported a common dimensional structure in the diverse groups. Measures of episodic memory showed the most compelling evidence of measurement equivalence across groups. Measurement equivalence was observed for most but not all measures of semantic memory/language and spatial ability. Measures of attention/working memory defined a common dimension in the different groups, but results suggest that scores are not strictly comparable across groups. Conclusions: These results support the applicability of the SENAS for use with multiethnic and bilingual older adults, and more broadly, provide evidence of similar dimensions of cognition in the groups represented in the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response perseveration in psychopaths.

Prison psychopaths and nonpsychopaths performed a card-playing task involving monetary rewards and punishments under three conditions. In all conditions, the probability of punishment increased by 10% with every block of 10 cards from 10% to 100%. The dependent measure—number of cards played before terminating the task—provided a measure of response perseveration. As predicted, psychopaths played significantly more cards (and lost more money) than did nonpsychopaths when the task involved immediate feedback only. Although providing subjects with a display illustrating their cumulative response feedback did little to reduce this deficit, there were no group differences apparent when cumulative feedback was accompanied by a 5-s waiting period during which subjects were prevented from making another response. The results suggest that procedures designed to reduce psychopaths' maladaptive perseveration by imposing a delay between response feedback and the next opportunity to respond may prove clinically important. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on "Effects of anxiety and sex on neuropsychological tests."

Discusses difficulties in interpretation of the results of a sex effect on the Finger Tapping Test (FT) found by G. D. King et al (see record 1979-06024-001). Specifically, psychometric considerations for questioning the validity of neuropsychological tests are discussed, and previously published normative data bearing on the interpretation of FT performance are identified. The difficulties of conducting research on human brain–behavior relationships are noted. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

One-day test-retest reliability of neuropsychological tests in a personal injury case.

The difficulties inherent in differentiating practice effects from meaningful changes in neuropsychological retest data are well known to clinicians. Although gross actuarial guidelines are available on the basis of group studies, the application of such information to individual cases presents many interpretive complexities. This is particularly true when litigation is involved or the retest interval is very short. The case presented here involved examinations performed independently on successive days by 2 diplomate neuropsychologists. The majority of tests produced clinically equivalent results in both examinations. Increases of more than 2 SEMs were found on only 4 measures in the retesting and were associated with practice effects. Both neuropsychologists independently concluded that the examination did not reveal neuropsychological impairment, suggesting that clinical prediction is possible and may be valid in the forensic context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frontal lobe functions in psychopaths.

Hypothesized that psychopaths would exhibit deficits on tasks tapping the frontal lobe functions of cognitive flexibility and perseverance. 20 male psychopaths (mean age 26.5 yrs), 23 male psychiatric controls, and 18 normal male controls (18–20 yrs old) completed the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory, a behavioral checklist, and a task battery. 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 Task, errors on a sequential matching memory task, and Necker Cube reversals. Results encourage the pursuit of a conceptualization of psychopathy based on deficits in cognitive functions previously associated with frontal lobe. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Altering a dominant response: Performance of psychopaths and low-socialization college students on a cued reaction time task.

The passive avoidance learning deficits of disinhibited Ss have been attributed to their difficulty inhibiting dominant responses. To date, evidence for this hypothesis has been derived from complex tasks. In 2 experiments, a cued reaction time (RT) task requiring no learning or memory was used to evaluate the degree to which groups of disinhibited Ss inhibit simple dominant responses. Disinhibited groups were incarcerated psychopaths identified with R. D. Hare's (1985) Psychopathy Checklist and undergraduate males who scored low on the Socialization Scale. Both disinhibited groups committed more errors than controls on trials containing misleading cues, but in both samples, findings were limited to trials in which Ss expected to make right-hand responses. Although alternative interpretations are possible, these data are consistent with the proposal that disinhibited individuals are less likely to inhibit well-established dominant responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A methodology for studying noninstitutionalized psychopaths.

Studies of psychopaths have been limited primarily to institutionalized populations. This article describes a methodological approach to studying noninstitutionalized psychopaths and presents data on various criteria frequently associated with the diagnosis of psychopathy. The procedure involved incorporating the characteristics of psychopathy, in a nonpejorative way, into a major Boston counterculture newspaper ad recruiting Ss for an experiment. Ss were 23 males and 5 females aged 19–47 yrs. They were assessed in several ways using the MMPI, a biographical interview, the Porteus Maze Test, a questionnaire battery (including some Eysenck Personality Inventory scales and measures of empathy, socialization, and Machiavellianism), and a delay of gratification task. Ss fulfilled the criteria for psychopathy, and the recruitment method used appears to be a fruitful one. With the present methodology, it should be possible to determine the extent to which previous results from research can be generalized to nonincarcerated psychopaths and particularly to the more successful ones. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The psychiatrist and tests of criminal responsibility": Reply to Eckhardt.

Replies to comments by W. Eckhardt (1964) that raise questions about R. Leifer's (1964) article on psychiatrists and tests of criminal responsibility. Leifer reiterates that psychiatric and psychological experts function as linguistic arbiters who attempt to extricate the courts from the enigma of ambiguous tests of criminal responsibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)