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Background: Individuals scoring high on psychopathy engage in problematic patterns of alcohol and illicit substance use. However, our understanding regarding the association between psychopathy and nicotine use remains limited, which is surprising, given the detrimental consequences associated with such use. Previous studies have observed significant correlations between psychopathic traits (particularly Factor 2 scores assessing lifestyle/behavioral and antisocial traits from the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised [PCL-R]) and increased frequency of nicotine use. However, no study has investigated whether individuals scoring high on psychopathy are characterized by problematic patterns of nicotine use, including lifetime history of nicotine dependence. Objectives: The current study aimed to address this gap, specifically investigating whether PCL-R scores were associated with higher total scores from the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Results: Across both incarcerated men and women, PCL-R total, Factor 2, and Facet 3 (measuring lifestyle/behavioral psychopathic traits) scores were positively correlated with FTND total scores. Additionally, across both samples, hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed these same psychopathy scores remained associated with higher FTND total scores when controlling for additional covariate measures (e.g., age, severity of alcohol and illicit substance use, race, ethnicity, and IQ). Conclusions/Importance: Though associated with small effect sizes, our results support the notion that lifestyle/behavioral psychopathic traits represent a general risk factor for engaging in risky behavior associated with deleterious health consequences, including nicotine use. Our results hold implications for the development of treatment approaches, designed to reduce problematic levels of substance use among individuals scoring high on psychopathy.

To date, very few studies have explored the association between psychopathic traits and risky sexual behavior (RSB) among women. Here, we investigated this relationship in a sample of 137 incarcerated women. Psychopathic traits were assessed via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) and lifetime RSB measures, including number of lifetime sexual partners, frequency of engaging in sexual intercourse while intoxicated, and frequency of forgoing protection (e.g., condom usage) during sexual intercourse, were assessed through self-report. PCL-R Facet 3 scores (assessing lifestyle psychopathic traits) were associated with an increased frequency of engaging in sexual intercourse while intoxicated. In addition, women scoring high on the PCL-R were more likely to engage in sexual intercourse while intoxicated compared with a previously collected sample of men scoring high on the PCL-R. The results obtained in the current study help improve our understanding of the association between psychopathic traits and RSB among women.

Recidivism places a significant burden on society and efforts aimed at reducing cyclical criminal justice involvement are needed. This prospective study tested the utility of psychopathic traits in predicting general, felony, and substance-related rearrest in women following release from a correctional facility. The extent to which psychopathic traits offered incremental utility in predicting outcomes, above and beyond other established risk factors, including substance use disorder, was examined. Participants included 327 incarcerated adult women who completed comprehensive clinical and psychiatric assessments prior to release from correctional facilities. Psychopathic traits and lifetime substance use disorder were measured using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders, respectively. Results showed that general, felony, and substance-related rearrest following institutional release were associated with higher PCL-R Factor 2 scores, assessing lifestyle/behavioral and antisocial/developmental psychopathic traits. Additionally, when controlling for other risk factors associated with recidivism, including age at release, number of prior adult prison terms, and substance use disorder, higher PCL-R Factor 2 scores remained significantly associated with rearrest outcomes in women. Findings inform risk prediction and treatment efforts aimed at reducing recidivism in justice-involved women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

AIM To further investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of child sexual offending and disentangle them from the neural correlates of pedophilia, using a multivariate analytical approach in order to minimize loss of statistical power. METHODS This study presents structural MRI data on gray matter in an incarcerated, male population of 22 pedophilic and 21 non-pedophilic child sexual offenders, and 20 violent non-sexual offender controls, based on a multivariate whole-brain approach using source-based morphometry. RESULTS We identify a network of several neuroanatomical regions exhibiting interrelated reduced gray matter in both child sexual offender groups relative to controls, comprising extensive clusters in the bilateral cerebellum and frontal lobe, as well as smaller clusters in the bilateral parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes, the bilateral basal ganglia, the medial cingulate and the hippocampus. CONCLUSION Our results speak to the interpretation that there are inter- and possibly connectivity-related brain structural abnormalities in child sexual offenders that are not (only) pertaining to pedophilia per se. Interpretations and limitations of the present data are discussed and recommendations for future works are given.

Previous work in incarcerated men suggests that individuals scoring high on psychopathy exhibit aberrant resting-state paralimbic functional network connectivity (FNC). However, it is unclear whether similar results extend to women scoring high on psychopathy. This study examined whether psychopathic traits [assessed via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R)] were associated with aberrant inter-network connectivity, intra-network connectivity (i.e., functional coherence within a network), and amplitude of fluctuations across limbic and surrounding paralimbic regions among incarcerated women (n = 297). Resting-state networks were identified by applying group Independent Component Analysis to resting-state fMRI scans. We tested the association of psychopathic traits (PCL-R Factor 1 measuring interpersonal/affective psychopathic traits and PCL-R Factor 2 assessing lifestyle/antisocial psychopathic traits) to the three FNC measures. PCL-R Factor 1 scores were associated with increased low-frequency fluctuations in executive control and attentional networks, decreased high-frequency fluctuations in executive control and visual networks, and decreased intra-network FNC in default mode network. PCL-R Factor 2 scores were associated with decreased high-frequency fluctuations and default mode networks, and both increased and decreased intra-network functional connectivity in visual networks. Similar to previous analyses in incarcerated men, our results suggest that psychopathic traits among incarcerated women are associated with aberrant intra-network amplitude fluctuations and connectivity across multiple networks including limbic and surrounding paralimbic regions.

Psychopathy and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are commonly associated with an increased propensity toward substance use. However, few studies have accounted for shared variance between psychopathy and BPD when examining relationships with unique forms of substance use, particularly in justice-involved females. This study investigated psychopathic and BPD traits in relation to alcohol and drug use in a sample of 274 incarcerated adult females. Results revealed that psychopathic and BPD traits were differentially related to alcohol and drug use. Specifically, unique variance in BPD traits was related to alcohol use, whereas unique variance in lifestyle-antisocial psychopathic traits was related to drug use. Findings support unique relationships between psychopathic and BPD traits and problematic and prolonged alcohol and drug use in incarcerated adult females. Results may inform methods of tailoring specific substance use treatments for use in females with distinct personality profiles.

Previous studies with men suggest that certain psychopathic traits vary with age. Specifically, younger men score higher on psychopathic traits measuring impulsive-antisocial behavior, including impulsivity, irresponsibility, and criminal versatility, compared to older men. On the other hand, younger and older men score comparably on psychopathic traits reflecting core personality traits of interpersonal and affective dysfunction, including conning and manipulative behavior and a lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse. However, it is currently not known whether psychopathic traits similarly vary with age among women. This study examined whether psychopathy scores (assessed via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist - Revised [PCL-R]) varied with age among a sample of 501 incarcerated women ranging from 19 to 57 years of age. Consistent with previous studies performed with men, younger women scored higher on psychopathic traits measuring impulsive-antisocial behavior (i.e., PCL-R Factor 2, Facet 3, and Facet 4 scores) compared to older women. However, scores on PCL-R Factor 1, Facet 1, and Facet 2, assessing core personality traits, including interpersonal and affective dysfunction, were comparable across women in different age categories investigated. Results obtained in this preliminary study suggest the variation of PCL-R Factor 2 traits and the stability of PCL-R Factor 1 traits across the lifespan is invariant across gender.

The ability to share and understand the distress of others is critical for successful social interactions and is a fundamental building block of morality. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that includes lack of empathy and concern for others. In the present study, functional MRI was used to examine neural responses and functional connectivity associated with empathy and affective perspective-taking in female inmates (N = 109) with various levels of psychopathic traits, as measured with Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Participants viewed hands and feet in painful or non-painful situations while adopting a first person or third person perspective. All participants demonstrated robust neural responses in anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate (ACC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and supplementary motor area (SMA) when viewing pain, both during imagine-self and imagine-other blocks. Psychopathy shifted the functional connectivity seeded in core nodes of the salience and social cognition networks. Perceiving stimuli depicting somatic pain led to decreased functional coupling from right temporoparietal junction to superior temporal sulcus, which correlated with scores on PCL-R Factor 1 (Affective/Interpersonal). In contrast, connectivity from right insula to precuneus increased with Factor 2 (Lifestyle/Antisocial) scores. When adopting a third-person perspective, psychopathic traits modulated connectivity from the social cognition network, but not the salience network, with Factor 1 scores associated with increased connectivity to sensorimotor cortex and temporal pole, while Factor 2 scores were associated with decreased connectivity with ACC/SMA and inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, these results demonstrate that psychopathic traits in incarcerated females are associated with atypical functional connectivity within the salience network during pain-empathy processing and within the social cognition network during affective perspective-taking.

Sexual sadists derive pleasure from humiliation, domination and infliction of pain on victims. They display increased penile arousal and activation of brain regions involved in sexual arousal and emotional states when viewing stimuli depicting individuals in physical distress. Neuroactive hormones modulate these regions, but it is unknown if sexual sadists also have endocrine responses to depictions of individuals in distress. The present study examined endocrine responses, elicited by viewing a video depicting an individual in extreme emotional distress, in incarcerated adult male sexual offenders (n = 23) with varying levels of sadistic traits. Sadism, was measured by the Severe Sexual Sadism Scale (SeSaS). Testosterone (T), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and oxytocin (OT) were assayed before and after participants watched a video depicting an individual in emotional distress. T responses to the video were significantly and positively associated with SeSaS scores. There were no significant associations between sexual sadism and OT or ACTH. Our findings provide physiological evidence of atypical processing of distress cues in sadism consistent with the role of testosterone in sexual arousal and aggressive behaviors. These findings have implications for the evaluation and treatment of sexual sadists.

Homicide is a significant societal problem with economic costs in the billions of dollars annually and incalculable emotional impact on victims and society. Despite this high burden, we know very little about the neuroscience of individuals who commit homicide. Here we examine brain gray matter differences in incarcerated adult males who have committed homicide (n = 203) compared to other non-homicide offenders (n = 605; total n = 808). Homicide offenders' show reduced gray matter in brain areas critical for behavioral control and social cognition compared with subsets of other violent and non-violent offenders. This demonstrates, for the first time, that unique brain abnormalities may distinguish offenders who kill from other serious violent offenders and non-violent antisocial individuals.

Previous studies have associated adult men with elevated psychopathic traits with reduced endorsement of certain moral foundations measured with the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ), including Harm/Care (measuring one's concern for protecting individuals from harm) and Fairness/Reciprocity (measuring one's concern for the rights of individuals). However, it is not known whether such results extrapolate to women with elevated levels of psychopathic traits. Here, we examined the relationship between endorsement of moral foundations (assessed via the MFQ) and psychopathy scores (assessed via the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised [PCL-R]) in a sample of 299 incarcerated adult women. Consistent with hypotheses, higher PCL-R total scores were associated with reduced endorsement of MFQ Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity foundations. Additionally, we extended upon previous studies, observing higher PCL-R total, Factor 1 (measuring interpersonal/affective psychopathic traits), and Facet 1 (measuring interpersonal psychopathic traits) scores were associated with reduced endorsement of the MFQ Authority/Respect foundation (measuring one's respect for authority figures) in incarcerated adult women. Our results highlight reduced endorsement for similar moral foundations between men and women scoring high on psychopathic traits (i.e., Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity), while also outlining a moral foundation that may be uniquely associated with women scoring high on psychopathic traits (i.e., Authority/Respect).

Highlights • Psychopathic personality traits do not predict emotional accuracy in female inmates. • When viewing harmful interactions, PCL-R scores are associated with dlPFC response. • PCL-R scores are linked to lower functional connectivity seeded in amygdala and TPJ., Much of social cognition requires making inferences about the mental and emotional states of others. Moreover, understanding the emotions of others is an important foundation for moral decision-making. Psychopathy is associated with both aberrant emotional understanding and atypical hemodynamic responses when viewing and evaluating morally laden social interactions. In the present functional MRI study, female inmates (N = 107) were asked to evaluate the likely emotional state of either the recipient or the initiator of harmful or helpful interactions. Psychopathy was assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). PCL-R scores were not associated with differences in confidence or accuracy ratings. However, psychopathy scores were significantly related to increased hemodynamic response in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when viewing harmful interactions and decreased functional connectivity from right amygdala to inferior parietal cortex and insula, and from temporal parietal junction to dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Overall, this work indicates that in females, psychopathy is associated with normal behavioral accuracy and confidence but alterations in neural network activity during moral decision-making.

Psychopathic individuals are notorious for their callous disregard for others’ emotions. Prior research has linked psychopathy to deficits in affective mechanisms underlying empathy (e.g., affective sharing), yet research relating psychopathy to cognitive mechanisms underlying empathy (e.g., affective perspective-taking and Theory of Mind) requires further clarification. To elucidate the neurobiology of cognitive mechanisms of empathy in psychopathy, we administered an fMRI task and tested for global as well as emotion-specific deficits in affective perspective-taking. Adult male incarcerated offenders (N = 94) viewed images of two people interacting, with one individual's face obscured by a shape. Participants were cued to either identify the emotion of the obscured individual or identify the shape from one of two emotion or shape choices presented on each trial. Target emotions included anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral. Contrary to predictions, psychopathy was unrelated to neural activity in the Affective Perspective-taking > Shape contrast. In line with predictions, psychopathy was negatively related to task accuracy during affective perspective-taking for fear, happiness, and sadness. Psychopathy was related to reduced hemodynamic activity exclusively during fear perspective-taking in several areas: left anterior insula extending into posterior orbitofrontal cortex, right precuneus, left superior parietal lobule, and left superior occipital cortex. Although much prior research has emphasized psychopathy-related abnormalities in affective mechanisms mediating empathy, current results add to growing evidence of psychopathy-related abnormalities in a cognitive mechanism related to empathy. These findings highlight brain regions that are hypoactive in psychopathy when explicitly processing another's fear.

Differences between males and females have been extensively documented in biological, psychological, and behavioral domains. Among these, sex differences in the rate and typology of antisocial behavior remains one of the most conspicuous and enduring patterns among humans. However, the nature and extent of sexual dimorphism in the brain among antisocial populations remains mostly unexplored. Here we seek to understand sex differences in brain structure between incarcerated males and females in a large sample (n=1300) using machine learning. We apply source-based morphometry (SBM), a contemporary multivariate approach for quantifying gray matter measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and carry these parcellations forward using machine learning to classify sex. Models using components of brain gray matter volume and concentration were able to differentiate between males and females with greater than 93% generalizable accuracy. Highly differentiated components include orbitofrontal and frontopolar regions, proportionally larger in females, and anterior medial temporal regions proportionally larger in males. We also provide a complimentary analysis of a non-forensic healthy control sample and replicate our 93% sex discrimination. These findings demonstrate that the brains of males and females are highly distinguishable. Understanding sex differences in the brain has implications for elucidating variability in the incidence and progression of disease, psychopathology, and differences in psychological traits and behavior. The reliability of these differences confirms the importance of sex as a moderator of individual differences in brain structure and suggests future research should consider sex specific models.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by antisocial behavior, lack of remorse and empathy, and impaired decision making. The disproportionate amount of crime committed by psychopaths has severe emotional and economic impacts on society. Here we examine the neural correlates associated with psychopathy to improve early assessment and perhaps inform treatments for this condition. Previous resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in psychopathy have primarily focused on regions of interest. This study examines whole brain functional connectivity and its association to psychopathic traits. Psychopathy was hypothesized to be characterized by aberrant functional network connectivity (FNC) in several limbic/paralimbic networks. Group independent component and regression analyses were applied to a data set of resting state fMRI from 985 incarcerated adult males. We identified resting state networks (RSNs), estimated FNC between RSNs, and tested their association to psychopathy factors and total summary scores (Factor 1 - interpersonal/affective; Factor 2 - lifestyle/antisocial). Factor 1 scores showed both increased and reduced functional connectivity between RSNs from seven brain domains (sensorimotor, cerebellar, visual, salience, default mode, executive control and attentional). Consistent with hypotheses, RSNs from the paralimbic system: insula, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, orbital frontal cortex, and superior temporal gyrus were related to Factor 1 scores. No significant FNC associations were found with Factor 2 and total PCL-R scores. In summary, results suggest that the affective and interpersonal symptoms of psychopathy (Factor 1) are associated with aberrant connectivity in multiple brain networks, including paralimbic regions.

Background Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by interpersonal and emotional abnormalities (e.g., lack of empathy and guilt) and antisocial behavior. Psychopathy has been associated with a number of structural brain abnormalities, most notably in orbital frontal and anterior/medial temporal regions, that may underlie psychopathic individuals' problematic behaviors. Past research evaluating cortical structure in psychopathy has considered thickness and volume, but to date no study has investigated differences in cortical gyrification, a measure of cortical complexity thought to reflect early neurodevelopmental cortical connectivity. Methods We measured the local gyrification index (LGI) in a sample of 716 adult male inmates and performed a whole brain analysis assessing the relationship between LGI and total and factor scores on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Results PCL-R scores were negatively associated with LGI measures within the right hemisphere in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) and adjacent regions of the superior frontal gyrus as well as lateral superior parietal cortex. Additionally, PCL-R Factor 1 scores (interpersonal/affective traits) predicted less LGI within the right MCC and adjacent dorsomedial frontal cortex and greater LGI in bilateral occipital cortex. Scores on PCL-R Factor 2, indicating impulsivity and antisocial behaviors, did not predict LGI in any regions. Conclusions These findings suggest that psychopathy, particularly the interpersonal and affective traits, are associated with specific structural abnormalities that form during neurodevelopment and these abnormalities may underlie aberrant brain functioning in regions important in emotional processing and cognitive control., Highlights • We examined cortical gyrification associations with psychopathy in a sample of 716 incarcerated individuals. • Psychopathy was negatively associated with gyrification in the midcingulate cortex and superior parietal cortex. • Factor 1 scores negatively predicted gyrification in the midcingulate cortex, but positively in bilateral occipital cortex. • These results may represent a vulnerability for psychopathy, which may help elucidate the etiology of this disorder.

Age is one of the best predictors of antisocial behavior. Risk models of recidivism often combine chronological age with demographic, social and psychological features to aid in judicial decision-making. Here we use independent component analyses (ICA) and machine learning techniques to demonstrate the utility of using brain-based measures of cerebral aging to predict recidivism. First, we developed a brain-age model that predicts chronological age based on structural MRI data from incarcerated males (n = 1332). We then test the model's ability to predict recidivism in a new sample of offenders with longitudinal outcome data (n = 93). Consistent with hypotheses, inclusion of brain-age measures of the inferior frontal cortex and anterior-medial temporal lobes (i.e., amygdala) improved prediction models when compared with models using chronological age; and models that combined psychological, behavioral, and neuroimaging measures provided the most robust prediction of recidivism. These results verify the utility of brain measures in predicting future behavior, and suggest that brain-based data may more precisely account for important variation when compared with traditional proxy measures such as chronological age. This work also identifies new brain systems that contribute to recidivism which has clinical implications for treatment development., Highlights • A brain-age model is developed on a large sample of MRI data collected from incarcerated males (n = 1332). • The model is tested in a new sample to predict recidivism using brain vs. chronological age. • Brain-age measures outperformed chronological age in prediction of recidivism.

Highlights • Psychopathy is linked to disruptions in neural information processing. • Graph analysis revealed that psychopathy impacts neural network organization. • Psychopathy is linked to a hyper-efficiently organized dorsal attention network. • Subcortical structures are less central to neural communication in psychopathy. • No psychopathy differences were found in default or salience network graph metrics., Psychopathy is a personality disorder defined by antisocial behavior paired with callousness, low empathy, and low interpersonal emotions. Psychopathic individuals reliably display complex atypicalities in emotion and attention processing that are evident when examining task performance, activation within specific neural regions, and connections between regions. Recent advances in neuroimaging methods, namely graph analysis, attempt to unpack this type of processing complexity by evaluating the overall organization of neural networks. Graph analysis has been used to better understand neural functioning in several clinical disorders but has not yet been used in the study of psychopathy. The present study applies a minimum spanning tree graph analysis to resting-state fMRI data collected from male inmates assessed for psychopathy with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (n = 847). Minimum spanning tree analysis provides several metrics of neural organization optimality (i.e., the effectiveness, efficiency, and robustness of neural network organization). Results show that inmates higher in psychopathy exhibit a more efficiently organized dorsal attention network (β = =0.101, pcorrected = =0.018). Additionally, subcortical structures (e.g., amygdala, caudate, and hippocampus) act as less of a central hub in the global flow of information in inmates higher in psychopathy (β = =−0.104, pcorrected = =0.048). There were no significant effects of psychopathy on neural network organization in the default or salience networks. Together, these shifts in neural organization suggest that the brains of inmates higher in psychopathy are organized in a fundamentally different way than other individuals.

Relative to the general population, individuals with psychotic disorders have a higher risk of suicide. Suicide risk is also elevated in criminal offenders. Thus, psychotic-disordered individuals with antisocial tendencies may form an especially high-risk group. We built upon prior risk analyses by examining whether neurobehavioral correlates of social cognition were associated with suicidal behavior in criminal offenders with psychotic disorders. We assessed empathic accuracy and brain structure in four groups: (i) incarcerated offenders with psychotic disorders and past suicide attempts, (ii) incarcerated offenders with psychotic disorders and no suicide attempts, (iii) incarcerated offenders without psychotic disorders and (iv) community non-offenders without psychotic disorders. Established suicide risk variables were examined along with empathic accuracy and gray matter in brain regions implicated in social cognition. Relative to the other groups, offenders with psychotic disorders and suicide attempts had lower empathic accuracy and smaller temporal pole volumes. Empathic accuracy and temporal pole volumes were significantly associated with suicide attempts independent of other risk variables. The results indicate that brain and behavioral correlates of social cognition may add incremental value to models of suicide risk.

Psychopathy is a disorder characterized by severe and frequent moral violations in multiple domains of life. Numerous studies have shown psychopathy-related limbic brain abnormalities during moral processing; however, these studies only examined negatively valenced moral stimuli. Here, we aimed to replicate prior psychopathy research on negative moral judgments and to extend this work by examining psychopathy-related abnormalities in the processing of controversial moral stimuli and positive moral processing. Incarcerated adult males (N = 245) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol on a mobile imaging system stationed at the prison. Psychopathy was assessed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R). Participants were then shown words describing three types of moral stimuli: wrong (e.g., stealing), not wrong (e.g., charity), and controversial (e.g., euthanasia). Participants rated each stimulus as either wrong or not wrong. PCL-R total scores were correlated with not wrong behavioral responses to wrong moral stimuli, and were inversely related to hemodynamic activity in the anterior cingulate cortex in the contrast of wrong > not wrong. In the controversial > noncontroversial comparison, psychopathy was inversely associated with activity in the temporal parietal junction and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results indicate that psychopathy-related abnormalities are observed during the processing of complex, negative, and positive moral stimuli.

Since the historical conception of psychopathy, researchers have been interested in understanding moral functioning among psychopathic individuals. The present study investigated the association between psychopathic traits and moral intuitions among incarcerated juvenile offenders (N = 178). Participants were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist:Youth Version (Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003) and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham et al., 2011), which defines five core moral foundations: Harm/care, Fairness/reciprocity, Ingroup/loyalty, Authority/respect, and Purity/sanctity. As expected, psychopathy in juvenile offenders negatively predicted endorsement of all five foundations. This study is the first to demonstrate broad abnormalities in Haidt et al.’s moral foundations in a juvenile sample and can help explain delinquent behavior in juveniles with psychopathic traits. Implications for theories of psychopathy are discussed.

Studies have used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to examine associations between psychopathy and brain connectivity in selected regions of interest as well as networks covering the whole-brain. One of the limitations of these approaches is that brain connectivity is modeled as a constant state through the scan duration. To address this limitation, we apply group independent component analysis (GICA) and dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) analysis to uncover whole-brain, time-varying functional network connectivity (FNC) states in a large forensic sample. We then examined relationships between psychopathic traits (PCL-R total scores, Factor 1 and Factor 2 scores) and FNC states obtained from dFNC analysis. FNC over the scan duration was better represented by five states rather than one state previously shown in static FNC analysis. Consistent with prior findings, psychopathy was associated with networks from paralimbic regions (amygdala and insula). In addition, whole-brain FNC identified 15 networks from nine functional domains (subcortical, auditory, sensorimotor, cerebellar, visual, salience, default mode network, executive control and attentional) related to psychopathy traits (Factor 1 and PCL-R scores). Results also showed that individuals with higher Factor 1 scores (affective and interpersonal traits) spend more time in a state with weaker connectivity overall, and changed states less frequently compared to those with lower Factor 1 scores. On the other hand, individuals with higher Factor 2 scores (impulsive and antisocial behaviors) showed more dynamism (changes to and from different states) than those with lower scores., Highlights • Whole-brain dynamic connectivity is associated with psychopathic traits assessed using PCL-R scores. • Psychopathy traits are related to networks from the inside (amygdala and insula) and outside paralimbic regions. • Subjects with higher Factor 1 (emotional and interpersonal relationships) tend to prefer a weakly connected state. • Subjects with Factor 2 (impulsive and antisocial behaviors) scores showed more connectivity dynamism.

Objective Exposure to childhood trauma is particularly prevalent among incarcerated juveniles. Although there is a growing understanding of the detrimental impact trauma exposure can have on child and adolescent development, childhood maltreatment can be very difficult to accurately measure. Integration of self-report trauma histories as well as supplemental file reports of trauma exposure may provide the most accurate estimate of experienced trauma among youth in correctional settings. Method The current study developed an expert-rated assessment of trauma that synthesizes self-report, as well as objective file information, using a sample of 114 incarcerated male juveniles. Results In addition to establishing scale factor structure, reliability, and validity, the current study provides additional evidence of the prevalence of trauma among incarcerated juveniles and reports on external correlates of the scale that are particularly relevant in correctional settings (e.g., psychopathic traits). Conclusion These results suggest that the integration of both self-report and file material can be meaningfully used to assess traumatic symptomology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Relative to the general population, criminal offenders have a higher risk of suicide. Neurobiological deficits related to suicidal behavior have been identified in the general population, but unexamined in offenders to date. We examined the association between brain morphology and suicidal behavior in adult male criminal offenders. Brain morphology was examined using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and source-based morphometry (SBM), a multivariate alternative to VBM which analyzes brain volume in between-subject spatially independent networks. Results showed that offenders with past suicide attempts (n = 19), relative to offenders without past suicide attempts (n = 19) and non-offenders (n = 26), had reduced gray matter in an SBM component that comprised the posterior cingulate, dorsal prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. The SBM source weights were significantly associated with suicide attempts independent of other suicide risk variables (e.g., depression). VBM results were similar to the SBM results but less robust. The results reveal a potential neurobiological marker of vulnerability to suicidal behavior among criminal offenders and illustrate the utility of multivariate methods of gray matter analyses.

A large body of evidence supports the view that psychopathy is associated with anomalous emotional processing, reduced guilt and empathy, which are important risk factors for criminal behaviors. However, the precise nature and specificity of this atypical emotional processing is not well understood, including its relation to moral judgment. To further our understanding of the pattern of neural response to perceiving and evaluating morally-laden behavior, this study included 155 criminal male offenders with various level of psychopathy, as assessed with the Psychopathy Check List-Revised. Participants were scanned while viewing short clips depicting interactions between two individuals resulting in either interpersonal harm or interpersonal assistance. After viewing each clip, they were asked to identify the emotions of the protagonists. Inmates with high levels of psychopathy were more accurate than controls in successfully identifying the emotion of the recipient of both helpful and harmful actions. Significant hemodynamic differences were detected in the posterior superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, and prefrontal cortex when individuals with high psychopathy viewed negative versus positive scenarios moral scenarios and when they evaluated the emotional responses of the protagonists. These findings suggest that socioemotional processing abnormalities in psychopathy may be somewhat more complicated than merely a general or specific emotional deficit. Rather, situation-specific evaluations of the mental states of others, in conjunction with sensitivity to the nature of the other (victim vs. perpetrator), modulate attention to emotion-related cues. Such atypical processing likely impacts moral decision-making and behavior in psychopaths. Hum Brain Mapp, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en

Psychotic disorders are associated with neurobehavioral impairments in mental state attribution (mentalizing). These impairments are most severe in psychotic patients with elevated symptom levels, particularly negative and cognitive symptoms. There have been few studies of functional connectivity related to mentalizing in psychotic disorders and associations with symptoms. We conducted a functional MRI study of affective mentalizing in individuals with psychotic disorders and varying symptom levels (positive, negative, cognitive). Participants were drawn from an adjudicated inpatient forensic psychiatric population (criminal offenders). Functional MRI scans were acquired using a 32-channel ultra-fast multiband imaging sequence. Mentalizing task performance and functional connectivity were assessed in psychotic criminal offenders (n = 46) and nonpsychotic offenders (n = 41). Temporal coherent brain networks were estimated with group independent component analysis (ICA). Relative to nonpsychotic offenders, psychotic offenders showed impaired task performance and reduced activation in a component comprising the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Positive and cognitive symptoms were inversely correlated with component activity and task performance. The results are discussed with reference to potential mechanisms underlying impaired social cognition in psychotic disorders and across symptom types.

Identification of factors that predict recurrent antisocial behavior is integral to the social sciences, criminal justice procedures, and the effective treatment of high-risk individuals. Here we show that error-related brain activity elicited during performance of an inhibitory task prospectively predicted subsequent rearrest among adult offenders within 4 y of release ( N = 96). The odds that an offender with relatively low anterior cingulate activity would be rearrested were approximately double that of an offender with high activity in this region, holding constant other observed risk factors. These results suggest a potential neurocognitive biomarker for persistent antisocial behavior.

The neural mechanisms underlying moral judgment have been extensively studied in healthy adults. How these mechanisms evolve from adolescence to adulthood has received less attention. Brain regions that have been consistently implicated in moral judgment in adults, including the superior temporal cortex and prefrontal cortex, undergo extensive developmental changes from adolescence to adulthood. Thus, their role in moral judgment may also change over time. In the present study, 51 healthy male participants age 13–53 were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they viewed pictures that did or did not depict situations considered by most individuals to represent moral violations, and rated their degree of moral violation severity. Consistent with predictions, a regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between age and hemodynamic activity in the temporo-parietal junction when participants made decisions regarding moral severity. This region is known to contribute to mentalizing processes during moral judgment in adults and suggests that adolescents use these types of inferences less during moral judgment than do adults. A positive correlation with age was also present in the posterior cingulate. Overall, the results suggest that the brain regions utilized in moral judgment change over development.

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.

This article is a commentary on 'Psychopathy, frustration, and reactive aggression: The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex' (Blair, 2010).

Prior functional imaging studies of moral processing have utilized ‘explicit’ moral tasks that involve moral deliberation (e.g., reading statements such as ‘he shot the victim’ and rating the moral appropriateness of the behavior) or ‘implicit’ moral tasks that involve moral intuition (e.g., reading similar statements and memorizing them for a test but not rating their moral appropriateness). Although the neural mechanisms underlying moral deliberation and moral intuition may differ, these have not been directly compared. Studies using explicit moral tasks have reported increased activity in several regions, most consistently the medial prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction. In the few studies that have utilized implicit moral tasks, medial prefrontal activity has been less consistent, suggesting the medial prefrontal cortex is more critical for moral deliberation than moral intuition. Thus, we hypothesized that medial prefrontal activity would be increased during an explicit, but not an implicit, moral task. Participants (n = 28) were scanned using fMRI while viewing 50 unpleasant pictures, half of which depicted moral violations. Half of the participants rated pictures on moral violation severity (explicit task) while the other half indicated whether pictures occurred indoors or outdoors (implicit task). As predicted, participants performing the explicit, but not the implicit, task showed increased ventromedial prefrontal activity while viewing moral pictures. Both groups showed increased temporo-parietal junction activity while viewing moral pictures. These results suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex may contribute more to moral deliberation than moral intuition, whereas the temporo-parietal junction may contribute more to moral intuition than moral deliberation.

Functional neuroimaging has identified brain regions associated with voluntary regulation of emotion, including the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. The neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in emotion regulation have not been extensively studied. We investigated the neural correlates of neuroticism and psychopathic personality traits in the context of an emotion regulation task. Results showed that amygdala activity elicited by unpleasant pictures was positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with a specific psychopathic trait related to emotional underreactivity. During active attempts to decrease emotional responses to unpleasant pictures, superior and ventrolateral prefrontal activity was positively correlated with psychopathy, but not with neuroticism. In contrast, dorsolateral prefrontal activity was positively correlated with neuroticism, but not with psychopathy. Psychopathy was also negatively correlated with medial prefrontal activity in response to pictures depicting moral violations, suggesting reduced emotional responses to moral stimuli in individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits. These results demonstrate dissociable influences of different personality traits on neural activity associated with responses to emotional stimuli and on the recruitment of regulation-related brain activity during the active down-regulation of responses to negative emotional stimuli. These results have implications for the etiology of trait-based psychopathology involving emotional dysregulation.

Researchers have proposed that females and males differ in the structure of their moral attitudes, such that females tend to adopt care-based moral evaluations and males tend to adopt justice-based moral evaluations. The existence of these gender differences remains a controversial issue, as behavioral studies have reported mixed findings. The current study investigated the neural correlates of moral sensitivity in females and males, to test the hypothesis that females would show increased activity in brain regions associated with care-based processing (posterior and anterior cingulate, anterior insula) relative to males when evaluating moral stimuli, and males would show increased activity in regions associated with justice-based processing (superior temporal sulcus) relative to females. Twenty-eight participants (14 females) were scanned using fMRI while viewing unpleasant pictures, half of which depicted moral violations, and rated each picture on the degree of moral violation that they judged to be present. As predicted, females showed a stronger modulatory relationship between posterior cingulate and insula activity during picture viewing and subsequent moral ratings relative to males. Males showed a stronger modulatory relationship between inferior parietal activity and moral ratings relative to females. These results are suggestive of gender differences in strategies utilized in moral appraisals.

Recent work suggests that a generalized error-monitoring circuit, which shows heightened activation when one commits an error in goal-directed behavior, may exhibit synonymous activity when one watches another person commit a similar goal-directed error. In the present study, fMRI was utilized to compare and contrast those regions that show sensitivity to the performance, and to the observation, of committed errors. Participants performed a speeded go/nogo task, and also observed a video of another person performing the same task. Dorsal anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, and supplementary motor regions were commonly activated to both performed and observed errors, providing evidence for common neural circuitry underlying the processing of one’s own, and another’s mistakes. In addition, several regions, including inferior parietal cortex and anterorostral and ventral cinguli, did not show activation during performed errors, but were instead uniquely activated by the observation of another’s mistakes. The unique nature of these ‘observer-related’ activations suggests that these regions, while of potential import towards recognition of another’s errors, are not core to circuitry underlying error-monitoring. Rather, we suggest that these regions may represent components of a distributed network important for the representation and interpretation of complex social actions.

Stimulant use is a significant and prevalent problem, particularly in criminal populations. Previous studies found that cocaine and methamphetamine use is related to impairment in identifying emotions and empathy. Stimulant users also have abnormal neural structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), amygdala, and anterior (ACC) and posterior cingulate (PCC), regions implicated in moral decision-making. However, no research has studied the neural correlates of stimulant use and explicit moral processing in an incarcerated population. Here, we examine how stimulant use affects sociomoral processing that might contribute to antisocial behavior. We predicted that vmPFC, amygdala, PCC, and ACC would show abnormal neural response during a moral processing task in incarcerated methamphetamine and cocaine users. Incarcerated adult males (N = 211) were scanned with a mobile MRI system while completing a moral decision-making task. Lifetime drug use was assessed. Neural responses during moral processing were compared between users and non-users. The relationship between duration of use and neural function was also examined. Incarcerated stimulant users showed less amygdala engagement than non-users during moral processing. Duration of stimulant use was negatively associated with activity in ACC and positively associated with vmPFC response during moral processing. These results suggest a dynamic pattern of fronto-limbic moral processing related to stimulant use with deficits in both central motive and cognitive integration elements of biological moral processes theory. This increases our understanding of how drug use relates to moral processing in the brain in an ultra-high-risk population.

Psychopathy, characterized by symptoms of emotional detachment, reduced guilt and empathy and a callous disregard for the rights and welfare of others, is a strong risk factor for immoral behavior. Psychopathy is also marked by abnormal attention with downstream consequences on emotional processing. To examine the influence of task demands on moral evaluation in psychopathy, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure neural response and functional connectivity in 88 incarcerated male subjects (28 with Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) scores ⩾30) while they viewed dynamic visual stimuli depicting interpersonal harm and interpersonal assistance in two contexts, implicit and explicit. During the implicit task, high psychopathy was associated with reduced activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate when viewing harmful compared with helpful social interactions. Functional connectivity seeded in the right amygdala and right temporoparietal junction revealed decreased coupling with the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula, striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In the explicit task, higher trait psychopathy predicted reduced signal change in ACC and amygdala, accompanied by decreased functional connectivity to temporal pole, insula and striatum, but increased connectivity with dorsal ACC. Psychopathy did not influence behavioral performance in either task, despite differences in neural activity and functional connectivity. These findings provide the first direct evidence that hemodynamic activity and neural coupling within the salience network are disrupted in psychopathy, and that the effects of psychopathy on moral evaluation are influenced by attentional demands.

Understanding the role of emotion in moral judgment has been an active area of investigation and debate. Here we comment on this topic by examining the interaction between emotion and moral judgment in certain psychopathological groups that are characterized by abnormalities in emotion processing, such as psychopaths and sexual offenders with paraphilic disorders.

This study presents the first neuroimaging investigation of female psychopathy in an incarcerated population. Prior studies have found that male psychopathy is associated with reduced limbic and paralimbic activation when processing emotional stimuli and making moral judgments. The goal of this study was to investigate whether these findings extend to female psychopathy. During fMRI scanning, 157 incarcerated and 46 non-incarcerated female participants viewed unpleasant pictures, half which depicted moral transgressions, and neutral pictures. Participants rated each picture on moral transgression severity. Psychopathy was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in all incarcerated participants. Non-incarcerated participants were included as a control group to derive brain regions of interest associated with viewing unpleasant versus neutral pictures (emotion contrast), and unpleasant pictures depicting moral transgressions versus unpleasant pictures without moral transgressions (moral contrast). Regression analyses in the incarcerated group examined the association between PCL-R scores and brain activation in the emotion and moral contrasts. Results of the emotion contrast revealed a negative correlation between PCL-R scores and activation in the right amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate. Results of the moral contrast revealed a negative correlation between PCL-R scores and activation in the right temporo-parietal junction. These results indicate that female psychopathy, like male psychopathy, is characterized by reduced limbic activation during emotion processing. In contrast, reduced temporo-parietal activation to moral transgressions has been less observed in male psychopathy. These results extend prior findings in male psychopathy to female psychopathy, and reveal aberrant neural responses to morally-salient stimuli that may be unique to female psychopathy.