Differentiating among prefrontal substrates in psychopathy: Neuropsychological test findings

K. S. Blair, D. G.V. Mitchell, A. Leonard, C. Newman, R. A. Richell, J. Morton, R. J.R. Blair

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

122 Scopus citations

Abstract

Frontal lobe and consequent executive dysfunction have long been related to psychopathy. More recently, there have been suggestions that specific regions of frontal cortex, rather than all of frontal cortex, may be implicated in psychopathy. To examine this issue, the authors presented 25 individuals with psychopathy and 30 comparison individuals with measures preferentially indexing the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; object alternation task), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; spatial alternation task), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; number-Stroop reading and counting tasks). The individuals with psychopathy showed significant impairment on the measure preferentially sensitive to OFC functioning. In contrast, the 2 groups did not show impairment on the measures preferentially sensitive to the functioning of the DLPFC or ACC. These results are interpreted with reference to executive dysfunction accounts of the disorder.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)153-165
Number of pages13
JournalNeuropsychology
Volume20
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
  • Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
  • Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
  • Psychopathy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Differentiating among prefrontal substrates in psychopathy: Neuropsychological test findings'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this