Psychopathic traits modulate microstructural integrity of right uncinate fasciculus in a community population

Individuals with psychopathy possess emotional and behavioral abnormalities. Two neural regions, involved in behavioral control and emotion regulation, are often implicated: amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Recently, in studies using adult criminal populations, reductions in micr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage clinical 2015-01, Vol.8 (C), p.32-38
Main Authors: Sobhani, Mona, Baker, Laura, Martins, Bradford, Tuvblad, Catherine, Aziz-Zadeh, Lisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Amygdala - pathology
Antisocial Personality Disorder - physiopathology
Anxiety - physiopathology
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Humans
Male
Microstructural integrity
Neural Pathways - pathology
Prefrontal Cortex - pathology
Psychology
Psychopathy
Psykologi
Uncinate fasciculus
White Matter - pathology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Individuals with psychopathy possess emotional and behavioral abnormalities. Two neural regions, involved in behavioral control and emotion regulation, are often implicated: amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Recently, in studies using adult criminal populations, reductions in microstructural integrity of the white matter connections (i.e., uncinate fasciculus (UF)) between these two neural regions have been discovered in criminals with psychopathy, supporting the notion of neural dysfunction in the amygdala-VMPFC circuit. Here, a young adult, community sample is used to assess whether psychopathic traits modulate microstructural integrity of UF, and whether this relationship is dependent upon levels of trait anxiety, which is sometimes used to distinguish subtypes of psychopathy. Results reveal a negative association between psychopathic traits and microstructural integrity of UF, supporting previous findings. However, no moderation of the relationship by trait anxiety was discovered. Findings provide further support for the notion of altered amygdala-VMPFC connectivity in association with higher psychopathic traits.
ISSN:2213-1582
2213-1582
DOI:10.1016/j.nicl.2015.03.012