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Meta-analysis of aberrant brain activity in psychopathy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

T. Poeppl ,
M. Donges ,
R. Rupprecht ,
P. Fox ,
A. Laird ,
D. Bzdok ,
B. Langguth  and
S. Eickhoff
T. Poeppl
Affiliation:
University of Regensburg, department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
M. Donges
Affiliation:
University of Regensburg, department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
R. Rupprecht
Affiliation:
University of Regensburg, department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
P. Fox
Affiliation:
University of Texas health science center, research imaging institute, San Antonio, USA
A. Laird
Affiliation:
Florida international university, department of physics, Miami, USA
D. Bzdok
Affiliation:
RWTH Aachen university, department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Aachen, Germany
B. Langguth
Affiliation:
University of Regensburg, department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
S. Eickhoff
Affiliation:
Heinrich Heine university, department of clinical neuroscience and medical psychology, Duesseldorf, Germany

Abstract

Introduction

Psychopathy is characterized by superficial charm, untruthfulness, lack of remorse, antisocial behavior, egocentricity as well as poverty in major affective reactions. This clinical profile has been empirically conceptualized and validated. Recent brain imaging studies suggest abnormal brain activity underlying psychopathic behavior. However, no reliable pattern of altered neural activity has been disclosed so far.

Objective

To identify consistent changes of brain activity in psychopaths and to investigate whether these could explain known psychopathology.

Methods

First, we used activation likelihood estimation to meta-analyze brain activation changes in psychopaths across 28 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies reporting 753 foci from 155 analyses (P < 0.05, corrected). Second, we functionally characterized the ensuing regions employing meta-data of a large-scale neuroimaging database (P < 0.05, corrected).

Results

Psychopathy was consistently associated with decreased brain activity in the right amygdala, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), and bilaterally in the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). Consistently increased activity was observed bilaterally in the fronto-insular cortex (FIC) (Fig. 1). Moreover, we found that the physiological functional role of the candidate regions related to social cognition (DMFPC), cognitive speech and semantic processing (left FIC/LPFC), emotional and cognitive reward processing (right amygdala/FIC) as well as somesthesis and executive functions (RLPFC).

Conclusion

Psychopathy is characterized by abnormal brain activity of bilateral prefrontal cortices and the right amygdala, which mediate psychological functions known to be impaired in psychopaths. Hence, aberrant neural activity can account for pertinent psychopathology in psychopathy.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
e-Poster Walk: Neuroimaging and neuroscience in psychiatry
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Abstract of the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2017 , pp. S349
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017

Fig. 1

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Fig. 1

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