Passive Avoidance Errors Research Articles

Examining gender differences in the correlates of psychopathy: A systematic review of emotional, cognitive, and morality-related constructs

Abstract Previous research examining the correlates of psychopathy has often focused on males. However, research on female psychopathy has increased over the past twenty years, and we are gaining more information about the similarities and differences in psychopathy in males and females. The purpose of this systematic review is to discuss the current research on gender differences in the correlates of psychopathy. The research to date largely relies on measures based on the Psychopathy-Checklist-Revised and includes studies examining various types of emotional and cognitive processes, as well as moral judgment, a construct involving both emotional and cognitive processing. Research suggests that both males and females higher in psychopathy show similar deficits in emotional modulation of the startle reflex, but females do not display some of the emotional processing deficits to the same extent as males higher in psychopathy. Because of limited research, it is less clear if there are gender differences in the relationship between psychopathy and cognitive processes. Females with psychopathic traits have not been found to demonstrate response perseveration or passive avoidance errors, but the relationship between psychopathy and other cognitive processes such as error processing seems to be similar in males and females. There also may be differences in how males and females higher in psychopathy process moral information, including how they respond to unfairness and moral violations. More studies directly comparing males and females within the same sample are needed to further examine gender differences in the correlates of psychopathy.

Abnormal decision-making in generalized anxiety disorder: Aversion of risk or stimulus-reinforcement impairment?

There is preliminary data indicating that patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) show impairment on decision-making tasks requiring the appropriate representation of reinforcement value. The current study aimed to extend this literature using the passive avoidance (PA) learning task, where the participant has to learn to respond to stimuli that engender reward and avoid responding to stimuli that engender punishment. Six stimuli engendering reward and six engendering punishment are presented once per block for 10 blocks of trials. Thirty-nine medication-free patients with GAD and 29 age-, IQ and gender matched healthy comparison individuals performed the task. In addition, indexes of social functioning as assessed by the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale were obtained to allow for correlational analyzes of potential relations between cognitive and social impairments. The results revealed a Group-by-Error Type-by-Block interaction; patients with GAD committed significantly more commission (passive avoidance) errors than comparison individuals in the later blocks (blocks 7,8, and 9). In addition, the extent of impairment on these blocks was associated with their functional impairment as measured by the GAF scale. These results link GAD with anomalous decision-making and indicate that a potential problem in reinforcement representation may contribute to the severity of expression of their disorder.

Age moderates the effect of acute dopamine depletion on passive avoidance learning

Despite extensive links between reinforcement-based learning and dopamine (DA), studies to date have not found consistent effects of acute DA reduction on reinforcement learning in both men and women. Here, we tested the effects of reducing DA on reward- and punishment-based learning using the deterministic passive avoidance learning (PAL) task. We tested 16 (5 female) adults (ages 22–40) in a randomized, cross-over design to determine whether reducing global DA by administering an amino acid beverage deficient in the DA precursors, phenylalanine and tyrosine (P/T[-]), would affect PAL task performance. We found that P/T[-] beverage effects on PAL performance were modulated by age. Specifically, we found that P/T depletion significantly improved learning from punishment with increasing participant age. Participants committed 1.49 fewer passive avoidance errors per additional year of age (95% CI, −0.71 – −2.27, r=−0.74, p=0.001). Moreover, P/T depletion improved learning from punishment in adults (ages 26–40) while it impaired learning from punishment in emerging adults (ages 22–25). We observed similar, but non-significant trends in learning from reward. While there was no overall effect of P/T-depletion on reaction time (RT), there was a relationship between the effect of P/T depletion on PAL performance and RT; those who responded more slowly on the P/T[-] beverage also made more errors on the P/T[-] beverage. When P/T-depletion slowed RT after a correct response, there was a worsening of PAL task performance; there was no similar relationship for the RT after an incorrect response and PAL task performance. Moreover, among emerging adults, changes in mood on the P/T[-] beverage negatively correlated with learning from reward on the P/T[-] beverage. Together, we found that both reward- and punishment-based learning are sensitive to central catecholamine levels, and that these effects of acute DA reduction vary with age.

Temperament, Executive Functions, and the Allocation of Attention to Punishment Feedback in Passive Avoidance Learning

Several theories have been proposed to account for the apparent non-responsiveness to punishment cues or aversive events demonstrated by members of some disinhibited groups. Included among these theories are those that emphasize individual differences in temperament, temperament-related biases associated with the allocation of attentional resources, and impairments in executive functions. This study examined the relative contribution of each of these variables to the prediction of passive avoidance errors (PAEs, or failures to inhibit responding to punishment cues) during a computerized go/no-go task. Variations in temperament, attentional allocation to punishment feedback, and executive functions were found to independently and additively contribute to the prediction of PAEs in a mixed sample of men and women recruited at a university campus (n=145). Results from this study, therefore, support multiple theoretical perspectives on PAEs as assessed by the go/no-go experimental paradigm.

An Evaluation of the Response Modulation Hypothesis in Relation to Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Several hypotheses related to Newman's (e.g., Patterson & Newman, 1993) response modulation hypothesis were examined among adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n=18) and normal controls (n=23). Consistent with predictions, youth with ADHD committed more passive avoidance errors (PAEs) than controls during the latter trials of a computerized go/no go task with mixed incentives, and this effect remained significant or marginally significant even after common variance associated with variables that covary with ADHD (i.e., IQ, oppositional-defiant/conduct disorder [ODD/CD] symptoms, anxious/depressed mood) was removed. While a moderate inverse association was observed between PAE frequency and the amount of time spent viewing response feedback following punishment, both categorical (diagnostic) and dimensional analyses of ADHD symptomatology indicated that ADHD and reflection on punishment feedback are uniquely associated with PAE commission. Findings from this study are discussed in relation to models of disinhibition applicable to youth with ADHD.

The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and Passive Avoidance Learning

The reliability and validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRPS) was examined in a noninstitutionalized offender sample of mixed gender and race. Adequate alpha coefficients were obtained for the total sample and across gender and race. The SRPS was compared to measures of trait anxiety and passive avoidance errors. SRPS total, primary, and secondary scores were positively and significantly correlated with trait anxiety and passive avoidance (commission) errors, but not omission errors. Employing hierarchical regression models, no anxiety, gender, or ethnic effects were found. Intelligence confounded the relationship between psychopathic traits and passive avoidance errors. Findings provide tentative support of the SRPS as a valid measure of psychopathy.

Passive avoidance learning as a function of behavioral inhibition and activation among female inmates

This study examined the association between temperament and behavioral disinhibition among incarcerated females ( N = 128) within a passive avoidance learning (PAL) paradigm. Participants completed measures of temperament dimensions associated with behavioral inhibition (BI) and behavioral activation (BA) as well as one of two PAL tasks. Task 1 allowed participants to reflect on their response feedback for up to 7 s, whereas Task 2 involved a fixed duration (3 s) of response feedback. For Caucasian participants, those high in both BA and BI committed more passive avoidance errors (PAEs) in Tasks 1 and 2, and reflected less on punishment feedback in Task 1 than other participant groups. For Task 1, reflection on punishment was negatively associated with PAEs.

Defensive copers show a deficit in passive avoidance learning on Newman's go/no-go task: implications for self-deception and socialization.

The present study investigated whether passive avoidance learning was retarded by defensive coping strategies designed to minimize exposure to negatively valenced stimuli. High-anxious individuals, low-anxious individuals, and defensive copers completed a computerized go/no-go task, in which they learned when to press or not to press a button, in response to contingent positive and negative feedback. The duration that feedback remained onscreen was self-regulated. Defensive copers showed preferential reflection away from negative feedback, committed more passive-avoidance errors, and were characterized by impaired learning, overall. Further, the ratio of reflection on negative feedback to reflection on positive feedback directly mediated both passive-avoidance errors and overall learning. Defensive coping strategies, therefore, appear to interfere with passive avoidance learning, thereby fostering perseverative, dysfunctional action patterns by reducing knowledge gained from previous mistakes. Implications for the learning of effective socialization strategies, and for psychopathy-which is commonly characterized by similar passive-avoidance deficits-are subsequently considered.

Passive avoidance learning in individuals with psychopathy: modulation by reward but not by punishment

This study investigates the ability of individuals with psychopathy to perform passive avoidance learning and whether this ability is modulated by level of reinforcement/punishment. Nineteen psychopathic and 21 comparison individuals, as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (Hare, 1991), were given a passive avoidance task with a graded reinforcement schedule. Response to each rewarding number gained a point reward specific to that number (i.e., 1, 700, 1400 or 2000 points). Response to each punishing number lost a point punishment specific to that number (i.e., the loss of 1, 700, 1400 or 2000 points). In line with predictions, individuals with psychopathy made more passive avoidance errors than the comparison individuals. In addition, while the performance of both groups was modulated by level of reward, only the performance of the comparison population was modulated by level of punishment. The results are interpreted with reference to a computational account of the emotional learning impairment in individuals with psychopathy.

Passive avoidance learning as a function of Cloninger's temperament typology: an extension to male undergraduates

Abstract Although research on the association between temperament and passive avoidance learning has produced somewhat consistent findings, there has been very little research on whether the observed relations differ as a function of sex. In a previous study with females, Farmer et al. (in press) reported that Cloninger's novelty seeking (NS) and harm avoidance (HA) dimensions interacted to predict passive avoidance errors (PAEs; or failures to inhibit previously punished responses), and that reflection on contingent feedback during the passive avoidance task mediated the association between temperament and PAEs. The purpose of this study was to extend these findings to a male undergraduate population. Eighty-six male undergraduates completed Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory and underwent a computerized passive avoidance learning task. In contrast with findings reported in Farmer et al., hierarchical regression analyses indicated no main or interactive effects of temperament in the prediction of PAEs; however, reflection on punishment feedback was negatively associated with the frequency of PAEs after controlling for response speed. Analyses also suggested that the males in this sample scored higher on NS, made fewer PAEs, and scored lower on HA and RD than the females in the Farmer et al. study.

Effect of High Dietary Manganese Intake of Neonatal Rats on Tissue Mineral Accumulation, Striatal Dopamine Levels, and Neurodevelopmental Status

Mn is an essential element, but may become neurotoxic at high levels. Recent reports of high Mn levels in hair of children with neurodevelopmental deficits suggest that these deficits could be due to Mn-induced neurotoxic effects on brain dopamine (DA) systems, although the mechanism is not well understood. Infant formulas contain considerably higher concentrations of Mn than human milk. Thus, formula-fed infants are exposed to high levels of Mn at a time when Mn homeostasis is incompletely developed. We studied the effects of dietary Mn supplementation of rat pups on tissue Mn accumulation, brain dopamine levels, infant neurodevelopmental status, and behavior at maturity. Newborn rats were supplemented daily with 0, 50, 250, or 500 μg Mn given orally from day 1 to day 20. Mineral analysis of small intestine and brain at day 14 showed a significant increase of tissue Mn in supplemented rats. Neurodevelopmental tests conducted at various ages showed significant delays as a function of Mn supplementation. At day 32, there was a significant positive relationship between passive avoidance errors and Mn supplementation levels. Brains of animals killed on day 40 showed a significant inverse relationship between Mn supplementation level and striatal dopamine concentration. These observations suggest that dietary exposure to high levels of Mn during infancy can be neurotoxic to rat pups and result in developmental deficits.

Specifying the impulsivity of female inmates with borderline personality disorder.

Impulsivity is regarded as a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD; M. C. Zanarini, J. G. Gunderson, & F. R. Frankenburg, 1989) despite lack of evidence from laboratory research (D. M. Dougherty, J. M Bjork, H. C. G. Huckabee, F. G. Moeller, & A. C. Swann, 1999). This study examined impulsivity in incarcerated women with BPD using a passive avoidance task (J. P. Newman & W. A. Schmitt, 1998) and the Impulsiveness-Monotony Avoidance-Detachment inventory (IMD; D. Schalling, 1978). As predicted, incarcerated women diagnosed with BPD committed more passive avoidance errors and reported more impulsivity on the IMD than controls. These findings identify disinhibition as a potentially important component of the impulsivity that characterizes BPD. Specifying the impulsive behavior identified with BPD may contribute to the effective assessment and management of the disorder.

Passive avoidance learning among females as a function of Cloninger's temperament typology

Responsiveness to punishment cues has been historically associated with the socialization process, whereby individuals who are relatively unresponsive to the effects of punishment have been viewed as especially vulnerable to the development of antisocial behavior patterns. To date, much of the research on responsiveness to punishment has been conducted on male inmates or males identified as disinhibited. Almost no comparable research has been performed on females. The purpose of this study was to examine in a non-pathological female sample the extent to which constructs associated with Cloninger's temperament typology predict passive avoidance errors (PAEs; or failures to inhibit previously punished responses) and omission errors (OEs; or failures to respond to stimuli associated with reward) produced during an interactive computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated no main or interactive effects in the prediction of OEs. However, in the prediction of PAEs, the interaction of novelty seeking (NS) and harm avoidance (HA) was significant, whereby the combination of high NS and low HA was most strongly associated with PAE frequency. Subsequent analyses indicated that response speed in combination with reflection following punishment mediated the relationship between temperament dimensions and passive avoidance learning.

Histrionic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder: sex-differentiated manifestations of psychopathy?

Little is known about the etiology of histrionic personality disorder (HPD) or its relation to other personality disorders. In this study, we examined whether HPD is etiologically related to psychopathy and more specifically whether HPD and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are sex-typed alternative manifestations of psychopathy. In addition, based on Newman's (1987) response modulation hypothesis of psychopathy, we examined the associations between psychopathic, HPD, and ASPD features and performance on laboratory measures of passive avoidance errors and interference effects. Seventy-five live theater actors completed self-report questionnaires and two laboratory measures of response modulation, and peers completed questionnaires concerning the participants' personality disorder features. The results provided weak and inconsistent support for the hypotheses that HPD is a female-typed variant of psychopathy and that ASPD is a male-typed variant of psychopathy. Contrary to previous findings, scores on response modulation tasks were not significantly related to psychopathy, or to either HPD or ASPD. The limitations of this study and possibilities for future research in this area are outlined.

Passive avoidance learning in extraverted females

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying passive avoidance learning in females in order to contrast Newman's (disinhibition as a consequence of BAS hyperactivity) with Gray's perspective (disinhibition can also appear as a consequence of BIS hypoactivity). Two computerized versions of the go/no-go discrimination task used by Newman et al. [Newman, J. P., Widom, C. S., & Nathan, S. (1985). Passive avoidance in syndromes of disinhibition: psychopathy and extraversion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1316–1327]. were administered to groups classified according to extraversion and neuroticism. The results showed that, unlike the work with males, condition R+P (situation involving cues for both reward and punishment) did not produce differences in passive avoidance errors (PAEs) between (neurotic) extraverts and (stable) introverts. In contrast, neurotic introverts tended to make more PAEs than the other groups but only when condition R+P was performed first. With regard to condition P (situation involving only cues for punishment), results showed that stable extraverts tended to display behavioural disinhibition when condition P was performed in second place. These results suggest that disinhibition is a complex phenomenon that may be mediated by either BIS hypoactivity, BAS hyperactivity or even BIS hyperactivity, and by the interaction of all these mechanisms with the involvement of some of the variables such as gender, personality, motivation, task and subject's anxiety state.

Passive avoidance in psychopathic offenders: a replication and extension.

A passive avoidance task was administered to 97 Caucasian and 110 African American offenders to (a) replicate prior research demonstrating poor passive avoidance in psychopathic individuals (Ps) with low anxiety, (b) compare the effects of anxiety, neuroticism, and fear in identifying subgroups of Ps and controls who differ in passive avoidance, and (c) reevaluate the generalizability of this finding to African American offenders. Replicating past research with Caucasian offenders, low-anxious Ps committed significantly more passive avoidance errors than low-anxious controls. Although this difference was also found in Ps and controls with low neuroticism scores, the comparison involving low-fear offenders failed to reach significance. As in past research, comparable comparisons involving African American offenders were not statistically significant.

Sensitivity to Conditioned or Unconditioned Stimuli: What Is the Mechanism Underlying Passive Avoidance Deficits in Extraverts?

The most important discrepancy between Gray′s (1981) and Newman′s (1987) approaches to passive avoidance was based on the role played by the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): Gray, but not Newman, predicted that passive avoidance deficits could be mediated by an underactive BIS and hence that these deficits could be found in strictly aversive contexts. Two different studies have been conducted to investigate these issues. In the first, two versions (one involving reward and punishment and the second punishment only) of the successive go/no go discrimination task used by Newman, Widom, and Nathan (1985) were administrated to groups classified according to extraversion and neuroticism. Results, in accordance with Newman′s hypotheses, showed more passive avoidance and less omission errors in (neurotic) extraverts as compared to (stable) introverts in mixed incentive contexts. In addition, consistent with Gray′s model, more passive avoidance and less omission errors were also found in stable extraverts as compared to neurotic introverts in solely aversive contexts. In Study 2, multiple choice exams were used considering each question an approach-avoidance conflict (similar in some aspects to the reward-punishment task in Study 1). Once effects of knowledge were controlled, extraverts had a greater tendency to approach than introverts in these exams. Finally, a third study confirmed that passive avoidance errors both in the reward-and-punishment task of Study 1 and in multiple choice were correlated. Different mechanisms leading to disinhibition in extraverts that are dependent on the functioning of both the BIS and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and the contribution of sensitivity to unconditioned and conditioned stimuli are discussed.

Reward dominance and passive avoidance learning in adolescent psychopaths

This study tests predictions that adolescent psychopaths are hyperresponsive to rewards (Quay, 1988) and deficient in passive avoidance learning (Newman & Kosson, 1986). Forty male adolescent juvenile offenders were divided into psychopaths and nonpsychopaths using cluster analysis. Subjects were administered a passive avoidance learning task which required learning when to respond to cards associated with either reward or punishment. Results showed a greater responsivity to reward in psychopaths, with no group differences in passive avoidance errors. Results lend support to the view that psychopaths tend to focus on the prospect of reward under conditions of mixed incentives and, when sufficiently motivated, are capable of improved performance. Together with findings of recent psychophysiological studies, these results suggest that adolescent psychopaths may have latent abilities which could have treatment implications.

Reaction to punishment, reflectivity, and passive avoidance learning in extraverts.

Passive avoidance learning occupies a central role in accounts of disinhibited behavior, ranging from psychopaths' persistent criminality (Hare 1970) to extraverts' gregariousness (Gray, 1972). To explore the mechanism underlying passive avoidance deficits, we assessed the relation of extraversion, neuroticism, and response latency after punishment to passive avoidance learning by using two successive go/no go discrimination tasks. The tasks were designed to examine two aspects of subjects' reactions to punishment: response speed on trials immediately following punishment (Experiment 1) and time to terminate punishment feedback between successive trials (i.e., reflectivity; Experiment 2). Consistent with previous findings, the results of Experiment 1 showed that extraverts commit more passive avoidance errors than introverts do (Newman, Widom, & Nathan, 1985) and fail to pause following punished errors (Nichols & Newman, 1986). In Experiment 2, only neurotic extraverts displayed this pattern of performance differences. In both experiments, longer pausing following punishment predicted better learning from punishment for both introverts and extraverts. These results suggest that, in the presence of salient cues for reward, extraverts' characteristic reaction to punishment interferes with processing punished errors and may contribute to their more general propensity for impulsive, nonreflective action.

Passive avoidance learning in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders.

Research on passive avoidance learning has demonstrated reliabledifferences between psychopaths and controls when avoidance errors result in electric shock but not in loss of money (Schmauk, 1970). Using monetary punishments, Newman, Widom, and Nathan (1985) found that psychopathic delinquents performed more poorly than controls in an experimental paradigm employing monetary reward as well as the avoidance contingency. The present study was conducted to replicate and extend these findings using adult psychopaths and a computer controlled task. Sixty white male prisoners were assigned to groups using Hare's (1980) Psychopathy Checklist and administered a go/no-go discrimination task involving monetary incentives. One condition entailed competing reward and punishment contingencies; the other, two punishment contingencies. As predicted, psychopaths made significantly more passive avoidance errors than nonpsychopaths when the task conmined competing goals (/9 < .05) but performed as well as controls when the subjects' only goal was avoiding punishment. Results corroborate earlier findings that psychopaths are relatively poor at learning to inhibit reward-seeking behavior that results in monetary punishment.