On the relationship between psychopathic traits and visual attentional breadth

Abstract

Primary psychopathic traits are associated with goal hyperfocus and reduced processing of goal-irrelevant stimuli. Here we tested whether a narrower visual attentional breadth could explain these effects. We also tested whether secondary psychopathic traits were associated with a broadened attentional breadth and altered resizing dynamics, given that they are thought to be associated with poorer attentional control and broader attentional breadth is less demanding of attentional control than a narrower breadth. Egocentricity and callousness were considered as primary psychopathic traits, and antisociality as a secondary psychopathic trait. Experiment 1 found weak evidence for higher antisociality being associated with a broader attentional breadth, and no evidence that either egocentricity or callousness were systematically associated with any attentional breadth preference, suggesting that a mechanism other than attentional breadth is required to explain the effects associated with primary psychopathic traits. Experiment 2 found clear evidence that higher antisociality was associated with quicker attentional expansion. Given that expansion reflects changing from a state more demanding of attentional control (narrow) to a less demanding one (broad), plus the evidence that poor optimization promotes faster infrequent resizing, quicker resizing associated with antisociality is consistent with poorer attentional control or executive function in secondary psychopathic traits.