Clarifying the factors that undermine behavioral inhibition system functioning in psychopathy.
Psychopathic individuals are generally unresponsive to motivational and emotional cues that facilitate behavioral regulation. A putative mechanism for this deficiency is Gray’s (1981) behavioral inhibition system (BIS). To evaluate the association between psychopathy and BIS functioning, we administered a laboratory-based assessment of BIS functioning to a group of psychopathic offenders assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL–R; Hare, 2003). In addition, we tested the hypothesis that the effects of working memory load on BIS functioning would interact differentially with the PCL–R factors. Replicating previous results, psychopathic offenders were less sensitive to BIS-related cues than controls. As predicted, working memory load interacted with Factor 2 (antisocial/impulsive), with higher scores predicting weaker BIS functioning under high-load though not low-load conditions. Results suggest new insights concerning the relationship among working memory, reward sensitivity, and BIS functioning in psychopathy.
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. baskinsommer@wisc.edu
Arielle R
AR
Baskin-Sommers
John F
JF
Wallace
Donal G
DG
MacCoon
John J
JJ
Curtin
Joseph P
JP
Newman
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012201:Reward