Abstract
Antisocial individuals are characterized to display self-determined and inconsiderate behavior during social interaction. Furthermore, recognition deficits regarding fearful facial expressions have been observed in antisocial populations. These observations give rise to the question whether or not antisocial behavioral tendencies are associated with deficits in basic processing of social cues. The present study investigated early visual stimulus processing of social stimuli in a group of healthy female individuals with antisocial behavioral tendencies compared to individuals without these tendencies while measuring event-related potentials (P1, N170). To this end, happy and angry faces served as feedback stimuli which were embedded in a gambling task. Results showed processing differences as early as 88–120 ms after feedback onset. Participants low on antisocial traits displayed larger P1 amplitudes than participants high on antisocial traits. No group differences emerged for N170 amplitudes. Attention allocation processes, individual arousal levels as well as face processing are discussed as possible causes of the observed group differences in P1 amplitudes. In summary, the current data suggest that sensory processing of facial stimuli is functionally intact but less ready to respond in healthy individuals with antisocial tendencies.
Highlights
Antisocial behavior is described as individual behavior lacking consideration for others, no matter whether intentional or through negligence [1]
Clinical manifestations of antisocial behavior are subsumed under the concept of antisocial personality disorder of the DSM-IV classification [2], and the corresponding diagnosis of dissocial personality disorder of the ICD-10 [3]
The present study focused on two event-related potentials (ERPs) that have been linked to face processing; the P1 and the N170, respectively
Summary
Antisocial behavior is described as individual behavior lacking consideration for others, no matter whether intentional or through negligence [1]. Recent theoretical accounts of antisocial behavior stress biological, developmental, and social risk factors [6,7,8] for developing antisocial personality disorder. These behavioral peculiarities of antisocials in social situations give rise to the question whether basic processing of social cues is impaired in these individuals. Efficient face analysis can be linked to evolutionary aspects of perception, interaction, and communication in social life [10] In line with this assumption, Marsh and Blair [11] summarized that antisocial populations repeatedly show deficits in recognizing emotional displays in faces, in particular fearful expressions, assessed in behavioral or neuroimaging settings
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