The neurobiology of psychopathic traits in youths
TL;DR: Children with conduct disorder have psychopathic traits, which consist of a callous–unemotional component and an impulsive–antisocial component, which are associated with two core impairments.
Abstract: Conduct disorder is a childhood behaviour disorder that is characterized by persistent aggressive or antisocial behaviour that disrupts the child's environment and impairs his or her functioning. A proportion of children with conduct disorder have psychopathic traits. Psychopathic traits consist of a callous-unemotional component and an impulsive-antisocial component, which are associated with two core impairments. The first is a reduced empathic response to the distress of other individuals, which primarily reflects reduced amygdala responsiveness to distress cues; the second is deficits in decision making and in reinforcement learning, which reflects dysfunction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and striatum. Genetic and prenatal factors contribute to the abnormal development of these neural systems, and social-environmental variables that affect motivation influence the probability that antisocial behaviour will be subsequently displayed.
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TL;DR: It is suggested that distinct neural circuits linked to anticipatory affect promote different types of financial choices and indicate that excessive activation of these circuits may lead to investing mistakes.
Abstract: Investors systematically deviate from rationality when making financial decisions, yet the mechanisms responsible for these deviations have not been identified. Using event-related fMRI, we examined whether anticipatory neural activity would predict optimal and suboptimal choices in a financial decision-making task. We characterized two types of deviations from the optimal investment strategy of a rational risk- neutral agent as risk-seeking mistakes and risk-aversion mistakes. Nucleus accumbens activation preceded risky choices as well as risk- seeking mistakes, while anterior insula activation preceded riskless choices as well as risk-aversion mistakes. These findings suggest that distinct neural circuits linked to anticipatory affect promote different types of financial choices, and indicate that excessive activation of these circuits may lead to investing mistakes. Thus, consideration of anticipatory neural mechanisms may add predictive power to the rational actor model of economic decision-making.
980 citations
TL;DR: In delineating differential diagnoses, true comorbidities, and overlapping behaviour with other psychiatric diagnoses, particular attention should be paid to anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, personality disorders, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
387 citations
TL;DR: This model, based on vicarious motivation and error processing, provides a unified account of neurophysiological and neuroimaging evidence that the ACCg is sensitive to costs, benefits, and errors during social interactions.
348 citations
Cites background from "The neurobiology of psychopathic tr..."
...Specifically, none of the connections from the ACCs overlap with those of the ACCg to the mentalizing network or the AON and the connections of the ACCg and the ACCs to the vmPFC and the amygdala also do not fully overlap (Vogt, 2009; VanHoesen et al., 1993)....
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...…(Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006; Kilner, 2011); and (3) a network involved in affective and value-based processing, including the amygdala, ventral portions of the medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and anterior insula (AI) (Blair, 2013; Ruff and Fehr, 2014; Chang et al., 2015; Fareri et al., 2015)....
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...Historically, neurobiological models of social cognition have placed importance on three distributed neural networks, each of which may perform different functions that contribute to social behavior (Blair, 2013; Frith and Frith, 2006; Kilner, 2011): (1) a ‘‘mentalizing’’ network involved in inferring others’ mental states and abstract information about social situations, comprising a region in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the dorsal portions of the medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) (Apps and Tsakiris, 2013; Frith and Frith, 2006; Hampton et al....
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...In addition, psychopathic individuals and children who are rated as highly callous show differences in gray matter volume in the ACCg and connectivity between this region and other regions involved in processing social information such as the AI and the AON (Bird and Viding, 2014; Blair, 2013; Ly et al., 2012)....
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...…have placed importance on three distributed neural networks, each of which may perform different functions that contribute to social behavior (Blair, 2013; Frith and Frith, 2006; Kilner, 2011): (1) a ‘‘mentalizing’’ network involved in inferring others’ mental states and abstract information…...
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TL;DR: Children with repetitive rule-breaking, aggression, and disregard for others are at increased risk for substance abuse, educational disruption, and criminal behavior.
Abstract: Children with repetitive rule-breaking, aggression, and disregard for others are at increased risk for substance abuse, educational disruption, and criminal behavior. Progress is being made toward understanding the clinical and neurocognitive features of callous youth.
283 citations
TL;DR: A series of recommendations for facilitating cross-study comparisons and leveraging multifaceted approaches to studying emotion regulation processes within a developmental psychopathology framework are provided.
Abstract: In response to rapidly growing rates of comorbidity among psychiatric disorders, clinical scientists have become interested in identifying transdiagnostic processes that can help explain dysfunction across diagnostic categories (e.g., Kring & Sloan, 2009). One factor that has received a great deal of attention is that of emotion regulation, namely, the ability to modulate the intensity and/or duration of emotional states (e.g., Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995; Gross, 1998). Recent theoretical and empirical work has begun to emphasize the role that emotion regulation plays in the temporal comorbidity between internalizing and externalizing conditions (e.g., Aldao & De Los Reyes, 2015; De Los Reyes & Aldao, 2015; Drabick & Kendall, 2010; Jarrett & Ollendick, 2008; Patrick & Hajcak, 2016). However, close inspection of this work reveals two very pertinent areas of growth: (a) this literature is characterized by mixed findings that are likely explained, in part, by methodological heterogeneity; and (b) emotion regulation tends to be studied in relatively narrow terms. To address these issues, we provide a series of recommendations for facilitating cross-study comparisons and leveraging multifaceted approaches to studying emotion regulation processes within a developmental psychopathology framework. We hope that our perspective can enhance the organization and growth of this very important area of inquiry, and ultimately result in more effective prevention and treatment programs.
282 citations
Cites background from "The neurobiology of psychopathic tr..."
...Similarly, frontostriatal circuitry has been implicated in children and adolescents with externaliz- ing disorders such as conduct disorder (e.g., De Brito et al., 2009), ADHD (e.g., Shaw et al., 2012), ADHD (e.g., Plichta & Scheres, 2014), and psychopathic traits (e.g., Blair, 2013)....
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References
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TL;DR: The author gives 4 reasons for considering the hypothesis that moral reasoning does not cause moral judgment; rather, moral reasoning is usually a post hoc construction, generated after a judgment has been reached.
Abstract: Research on moral judgment has been dominated by rationalist models, in which moral judgment is thought to be caused by moral reasoning. The author gives 4 reasons for considering the hypothesis that moral reasoning does not cause moral judgment; rather, moral reasoning is usually a post hoc construction, generated after a judgment has been reached. The social intuitionist model is presented as an alternative to rationalist models. The model is a social model in that it deemphasizes the private reasoning done by individuals and emphasizes instead the importance of social and cultural influences. The model is an intuitionist model in that it states that moral judgment is generally the result of quick, automatic evaluations (intuitions). The model is more consistent than rationalist models with recent findings in social, cultural, evolutionary, and biological psychology, as well as in anthropology and primatology.
6,080 citations
TL;DR: Findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students suggest that policy makers, educators, and the public can contribute to healthy development of children by supporting the incorporation of evidence-based SEL programming into standard educational practice.
Abstract: This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement. School teaching staff successfully conducted SEL programs. The use of 4 recommended practices for developing skills and the presence of implementation problems moderated program outcomes. The findings add to the growing empirical evidence regarding the positive impact of SEL programs. Policy makers, educators, and the public can contribute to healthy development of children by supporting the incorporation of evidence-based SEL programming into standard educational practice.
5,678 citations
5,173 citations
TL;DR: The artificial synthesis of a number of the components of the vitamin B complex has made available pure crystalline material in large amounts for clinical research, and thus a milestone in the history of these affections has been passed.
Abstract: AFFECTIONS of the nervous system which result from inadequate nutrition have assumed an increasingly important position through the rapid accumulation of clinical, experimental, and pathological data. The artificial synthesis of a number of the components of the vitamin B complex has made available pure crystalline material in large amounts for clinical research, and thus a milestone in the history of these affections has been passed. It now seems appropriate to review and summarize the knowledge of these important substances. To evaluate the status of a nutritional deficiency in man is difficult. As a rule the patient induces his own disease and provides a deficiency that is not quantitatively measurable, but frequently clinical and laboratory evaluations are attempted. Both the laboratory method and the clinical method have certain advantages. Mice are not yet men and until they are the work coming -from the study of human beings is essential. Since the experience of investigators working with animals may often point the way for clinical research, we have interspersed in this review a few of the pertinent studies on the effect of nutritional deficiency on the nervous system of animals. A scheme for illustrating the multiple factors of the vitamin B complex is given in Fig. 1. To date the following portions of the vitamin B complex have been isolated and synthesized in amounts sufficient to allow for clinical trial: thiamin hydrochloride, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, and 2-methyl, 3-hydroxy, 4, 5-di (hydroxymethyl) pyridine. The deficiencies of these substances as they apply to the nervous system of man will be discussed briefly.
4,261 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a large sample of male children from birth to adulthood was studied to determine why some children who are maltreated grow up to develop antisocial behavior, whereas others do not.
Abstract: We studied a large sample of male children from birth to adulthood to determine why some children who are maltreated grow up to develop antisocial behavior, whereas others do not. A functional polymorphism in the gene encoding the neurotransmitter-metabolizing enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) was found to moderate the effect of maltreatment. Maltreated children with a genotype conferring high levels of MAOA expression were less likely to develop antisocial problems. These findings may partly explain why not all victims of maltreatment grow up to victimize others, and they provide epidemiological evidence that genotypes can moderate children's sensitivity to environmental insults.
4,151 citations