Executive and memory function and its relationship to trait impulsivity and aggression in personality disordered offenders

Abstract

We examined the relationship between trait impulsivity and executive and memory function in aggressive personality disordered offenders and non-aggressive healthy controls. There were 60 personality disordered offenders and 27 healthy controls who were characterized using the Special Hospital Assessment of Personality and Socialisation (SHAPS) and psychometric measures of impulsivity and aggression. Executive and memory function was assessed using a battery of traditional neuropsychological tests. SHAPS 'psychopathic' offenders perform poorly on frontal tasks assessing concept formation in a verbal format. Impulsivity and aggression correlate negatively and significantly with executive but not with memory function, the effects of IQ having been controlled for. Impulsive/aggressive (psychopathic) offenders have executive deficits over and above that which can be accounted for by the observed IQ deficits in this population. The findings may have implications for therapy.