Abstract
Individuals with psychopathy present deficits in the recognition of facial emotional expressions. However, the nature and extent of these alterations are not fully understood. Furthermore, available data on the functional neural correlates of emotional face recognition deficits in adult psychopaths have provided mixed results. In this context, emotional face morphing tasks may be suitable for clarifying mild and emotion-specific impairments in psychopaths. Likewise, studies exploring corresponding anatomical correlates may be useful for disentangling available neurofunctional evidence based on the alleged neurodevelopmental roots of psychopathic traits. We used Voxel-Based Morphometry and a morphed emotional face expression recognition task to evaluate the relationship between regional gray matter (GM) volumes and facial emotion recognition deficits in male psychopaths. In comparison to male healthy controls, psychopaths showed deficits in the recognition of sad, happy and fear emotional expressions. In subsequent brain imaging analyses psychopaths with better recognition of facial emotional expressions showed higher volume in the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal, inferior frontal and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices), somatosensory cortex, anterior insula, cingulate cortex and the posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Amygdala and temporal lobe volumes contributed to better emotional face recognition in controls only. These findings provide evidence suggesting that variability in brain morphometry plays a role in accounting for psychopaths’ impaired ability to recognize emotional face expressions, and may have implications for comprehensively characterizing the empathy and social cognition dysfunctions typically observed in this population of subjects.
Highlights
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by lack of emotional depth, callous treatment of others, poor judgment and impulsive antisocial behavior [1,2]
Two studies reported no alterations in facial emotion recognition in psychopathy [7,8]
This sample showed a mean Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) score [1] of 27.8, and served to select individuals for the present study according to the following criteria: (i) a total PCL-R score greater than 25 or a PCL-R Factor 1 score greater than 10, (ii) documented severe criminal offense, (iii) absence of DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis [35] with the exception of past history of substance abuse, (iv) absence of DSM-IV Axis II diagnosis, apart from antisocial personality disorder, (v) absence of symptomatic medical and neurological illness, (vi) normal IQ according to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition-Revised (WAIS-III-R [36]), and (vii) obtainment of subjectspecific full administrative permission and special police custody during the day of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) assessment
Summary
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by lack of emotional depth, callous treatment of others, poor judgment and impulsive antisocial behavior [1,2]. The emotional behavior of psychopaths is characterized by a reduced sensitivity to punishment and a lack of empathy for other people affected by their behaviors [1,3,4]. This condition has been associated with deficits in emotion perception and recognition, featuring impaired recognition of various emotions [2], including deficits in fear and sadness recognition in several studies (for a review, see [2,5,6]). Two studies reported no alterations in facial emotion recognition in psychopathy [7,8]. Morphing tasks allow for the assessment of complex emotional stimuli and have been validated for evaluating emotion recognition deficits in samples with psychopathic traits
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