Diminished pain sensitivity mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and reduced learning from pain.

ABSTRACT: Individuals with elevated psychopathic traits exhibit decision-making deficits linked to a failure to learn from negative outcomes. We investigated how reduced pain sensitivity affects reinforcement-based decision-making in individuals with varying levels of psychopathic traits, as measured by the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Short Form. Using computational modelling, we estimated the latent cognitive processes in a community non-offender sample (n = 111) that completed a task with choices leading to painful and non-painful outcomes. Higher psychopathic traits were associated with reduced pain sensitivity and disturbances in reinforcement learning from painful outcomes. In a Structural Equation Model, a superordinate psychopathy factor was associated with a faster return to original stimu

SUBMITTER: Atanassova DV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11401891 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature