title: Exaggerated Attention Blink Response in Prisoners with Externalizing.
abstract: The diverse phenotypic expressions of disinhibitory psychopathology are believed to reflect a common latent predisposing variable: externalizing. While deficiencies in executive functioning (i.e., cognitive/inhibitory control, working memory) and affective hyper-reactivity are commonly associated with externalizing, there is also evidence that externalizing is related to anomalous allocation of attention. In this study, we administered an attention blink task to a sample of male prisoners and assessed externalizing using the Impulsive-Antisociality scale (Benning, Patrick, Hicks, Blonigen, & Krueger, 2003). Individuals with high Impulsive-Antisociality displayed a significantly steeper attention blink (i.e., less accurate identification of a second target) than individuals with low Impulsive-Antisociality. Results provide new evidence that externalizers over-allocate attention to salient information and suggest a novel conceptualization of their disinhibitory psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Arielle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baskin-Sommers
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buckholtz
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Newman