Psychopathy

Question 1

What brain regions are involved in psychopathy?

Answer 1

1. Cingulate cortex  Diminished impulse control, enhanced reward anticipation
2. Amygdala  Emotional learning and reactivity is diminished
3. Orbitofrontal cortex  Self-monitoring (knowing how to act based on context) and decision-making (especially moral) is diminished
4. Para-hippocampal gyrus  Memory encoding and retrieval, especially for emotional events is diminished
5. Ventral striatum  Mediation of reward behaviour (reward anticipation and immediate gratification is enhanced)

Question 2

Different kinds of psychopathy

Answer 2

1. Primary (intrinsic idiopathic deficits) v. secondary (acquired due to indirect factors)
2. Successful v. unsuccessful
3. Internal (indifference, lack of empathy) v. external (cold, anxious, more emotional)

Question 3

What is psychopathy?

Answer 3

1. Empathy
2. ASB
3. Tested with:
   - PCL-R
   - fMRI or PET scans
   - Go/No-Go tasks

Question 4

Theories of psychopathy

Answer 4

1. Fear hypothesis  Difficulties in recognizing aversive situations and thereby avoiding them
2. Two-factor reinforcement sensitivity theory  Weak behavioural inhibition system promotes impulsive behaviour
3. Response modulation hypothesis  Problems in switching attention to stimuli with emotional salience

Question 5

fMRI use to detect lies/deception

Answer 5

1. Assumption that deception is more difficult than telling the truth  Higher cognitive load
2. Prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal cortex activate
3. Issues:
   - Reality is different from laboratory conditions
   - High sensitivity, low specificity
   - Other processes than deception might be involved

Question 6

PET and TBI

Answer 6

1. Decreased metabolism in cerebellum and medial temporal lobe
2. Inconsistent
3. Could also be due to drug abuse

Question 7

What is wrong with brain scans?

Answer 7

1. The brain is not so simple/clear-cut  Networks, not modules
2. Brain scan conditions are not representative of real life
3. Indirect measures of brain activity
4. Colours exaggerate the effects
5. Not one image but a statistical compilation of many different ones
6. Brain areas activate for various reasons
7. MRI measures anatomy
8. fMRI measures function (locates) indirectly
9. EEG  Not as accurate but measures brain activity directly
10. PET  18FDG is injected which behaves like oxygen but is not broken down
11. Expensive
12. Long
13. Difficult to generalize
14. G2i problem
15. Decisions in processing will influence the final picture
16. Participant manipulation