title: Aberrant response inhibition and task switching in psychopathic individuals.
abstract: Deficits in cognitive control have been considered a core dysfunction of psychopathy, responsible for disrupted self-control. We investigated cognitive control impairments, including difficulties with task switching, failure of response inhibition, and inability to adjust speed of responding. Participants included 16 subjects with psychopathic traits (Ps), and 22 healthy controls (HCs). We recorded behavioral responses during a Task Switching paradigm, a probe of flexible behavioral adaptation to changing contexts; and a Go/NoGo Task, which assesses response inhibition and indexes behavioral impulsivity. During task switching, Ps evidenced impairments shifting set when conflicting (incongruent) information was presented, but performed as well as HCs in the absence of such conflict. In addition, when they encountered these difficulties, they failed to adjust their speed of responding. Ps presented also with deficits in response inhibition, with many commission errors on the Go/NoGo Task. This study identified impairments in response inhibition and in set shifting in psychopathic individuals. When shifting set, they evidenced difficulties refocusing on a new task when it was incongruent with the previous task. These deficits interfere with regulation of ongoing behavior and disrupt self-regulation. Our findings suggest abnormal neural processing during suppression of inappropriate responses in psychopathic individuals.
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA; Department of Psychiatry, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: krakow@nki.rfmh.org.
authors.forename: Menahem I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Krakowski
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosciences, Albert Einstein School of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Foxe
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosciences, Albert Einstein School of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Pierfilippo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Sanctis
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA; Department of Psychiatry, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA; Department of Psychiatry, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hoptman
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shope
authors.affiliation: Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamiel
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Pal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Czobor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Psychopathy; Response inhibition; Response modulation; Task switching