Psychopathic tendency in violent offenders is associated with reduced aversive Pavlovian inhibition of behavior and associated striatal BOLD signal.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Violent offenders with psychopathic tendencies are characterized by instrumental, i.e., planned, callous, and unemotional (aggressive) behavior and have been shown to exhibit abnormal aversive processing. However, the consequences of abnormal aversive processing for instrumental action and associated neural mechanisms are unclear.

Materials and methods

Here we address this issue by using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 15 violent offenders with high psychopathic tendencies and 18 matched controls during the performance of an aversive Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer paradigm. This paradigm allowed us to assess the degree to which aversive Pavlovian cues affect instrumental action and associated neural signaling.

Results

Psych

SUBMITTER: Geurts DEM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9614330 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature