Abstract
Trait disinhibition may function as a dispositional liability toward maladaptive behaviors relevant in the treatment of mentally disordered offenders (MDOs). Reduced amplitude and prolonged latency of the NoGo N2 and P3 event-related potentials have emerged as promising candidates for transdiagnostic, biobehavioral markers of trait disinhibition, yet no study has specifically investigated these two components in violent, inpatient MDOs. Here, we examined self-reported trait disinhibition, experimentally assessed response inhibition, and NoGo N2 and P3 amplitude and latency in male, violent MDOs (N = 27) and healthy controls (N = 20). MDOs had a higher degree of trait disinhibition, reduced NoGo P3 amplitude, and delayed NoGo P3 latency compared to controls. The reduced NoGo P3 amplitude and delayed NoGo P3 latency in MDOs may stem from deficits during monitoring or evaluation of behavior. NoGo P3 latency was associated with increased trait disinhibition in the whole sample, suggesting that trait disinhibition may be associated with reduced neural efficiency during later stages of outcome monitoring or evaluation. Findings for NoGo N2 amplitude and latency were small and non-robust. With several limitations in mind, this is the first study to demonstrate attenuated NoGo P3 amplitude and delayed NoGo P3 latency in violent, inpatient MDOs compared to healthy controls.
Highlights
Disordered offenders (MDOs) demonstrate a variety of mental disorders, including schizophrenia spectrum disorders, substance abuse, and personality disorders, and pose significant challenges to the criminal justice system, with complex treatment needs and security concerns [1, 2]
Data collection and data analysis was performed by CD
CD performed EEG data preprocessing under supervision from ER
Summary
Disordered offenders (MDOs) demonstrate a variety of mental disorders, including schizophrenia spectrum disorders, substance abuse, and personality disorders, and pose significant challenges to the criminal justice system, with complex treatment needs and security concerns [1, 2]. Longitudinal studies in children [34, 35] and young adults [36] have demonstrated that both P3a and P3b amplitude reduction is predictive of a wide range of behaviors characterized by trait disinhibition, including aggression and criminality These findings are corroborated by meta-analytic studies showing that reduced amplitude and, less consistently, longer latency of the P3a [21] and P3b [37] is associated with antisocial behavior. While there is emerging evidence suggesting that reduced amplitude of the NoGo P3 component is associated with externalizing behavior [18, 20, 38,39,40,41], so far, no study has been done on an inpatient MDO sample Another ERP worth exploring is the N2. We hypothesized that NoGo N2 and P3 amplitudes would be negatively correlated with self-reported trait disinhibition and positively correlated with response inhibition accuracy, and that NoGo N2 and P3 latencies would be positively correlated with self-reported trait disinhibition and negatively correlated with response inhibition accuracy
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