UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Primary and Secondary Variants of Psychopathy in a Volunteer Sample Are Associated With Different Neurocognitive Mechanisms

Sethi, A; McCrory, E; Puetz, V; Hoffmann, F; Knodt, AR; Radtke, SR; Brigidi, BD; ... Viding, E; + view all (2018) Primary and Secondary Variants of Psychopathy in a Volunteer Sample Are Associated With Different Neurocognitive Mechanisms. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging , 3 (12) pp. 1013-1021. 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.04.002. Green open access

[thumbnail of Sethi_et_al_BPCNN_Accepted.pdf]
Preview
Text
Sethi_et_al_BPCNN_Accepted.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (240kB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent work has indicated that there at least two distinct subtypes of psychopathy. Primary psychopathy is characterized by low anxiety and thought to result from a genetic predisposition, whereas secondary psychopathy is characterized by high anxiety and thought to develop in response to environmental adversity. Primary psychopathy is robustly associated with reduced neural activation to others' emotions and, in particular, distress. However, it has been proposed that the secondary presentation has different neurocognitive correlates. METHODS: Primary (n = 50), secondary (n = 100), and comparison (n = 82) groups were drawn from a large volunteer sample (N = 1444) using a quartile-split approach across psychopathic trait (affective-interpersonal) and anxiety measures. Participants performed a widely utilized emotional face processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: The primary group showed reduced amygdala and insula activity in response to fear. The secondary group did not differ from the comparison group in these regions. Instead, the secondary group showed reduced activity compared with the comparison group in other areas, including the superior temporal sulcus/inferior parietal lobe, thalamus, pallidum, and substantia nigra. Both psychopathy groups also showed reduced activity in response to fear in the anterior cingulate cortex. During anger processing, the secondary group exhibited reduced activity in the anterior cingulate cortex compared with the primary group. CONCLUSIONS: Distinct neural correlates of fear processing characterize individuals with primary and secondary psychopathy. The reduced neural response to fear that characterizes individuals with the primary variant of psychopathic traits is not observed in individuals with the secondary presentation. The neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning secondary psychopathy warrant further systematic investigation.

Type: Article
Title: Primary and Secondary Variants of Psychopathy in a Volunteer Sample Are Associated With Different Neurocognitive Mechanisms
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.04.002
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.04.002
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Amygdala, Anxiety, Fear, Maltreatment, Psychopathy, fMRI
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10051027
Downloads since deposit
171Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item