State-dependent executive deficits among psychopathic offenders.
Three hypotheses for cognitive deficits among psychopaths were tested: Response modulation, left hemisphere activation, and an interaction between the 2. Twenty-six psychopathic and 32 nonpsychopathic criminal offenders identified with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised were randomly assigned to left- and right-hemisphere activation groups. An auditory processing task was administered, such that the ability to classify nonverbal auditory signals and the ability to manage subgoals were assessed under left- and right-hemisphere activation conditions. The results showed that psychopaths' information processing in general, including response modulation, was deleteriously affected by left-hemisphere activation, supporting 2 of the 3 hypotheses tested. These results offer an explanation for inconsistent findings of executive deficits among psychopaths.
Suchy
Yana
Y
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0251, USA. yana.suchy@psych.utah.edu
Kosson
David S
DS
D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012720:Severity of Illness Index