title: Neural connectivity during reward expectation dissociates psychopathic criminals from non-criminal individuals with high impulsive/antisocial psychopathic traits.
abstract: Criminal behaviour poses a big challenge for society. A thorough understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying criminality could optimize its prevention and management. Specifically,elucidating the neural mechanisms underpinning reward expectation might be pivotal to understanding criminal behaviour. So far no study has assessed reward expectation and its mechanisms in a criminal sample. To fill this gap, we assessed reward expectation in incarcerated, psychopathic criminals. We compared this group to two groups of non-criminal individuals: one with high levels and another with low levels of impulsive/antisocial traits. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to quantify neural responses to reward expectancy. Psychophysiological interaction analyses were performed to examine differences in functional connectivity patterns of reward-related regions. The data suggest that overt criminality is characterized, not by abnormal reward expectation per se, but rather by enhanced communication between reward-related striatal regions and frontal brain regions. We establish that incarcerated psychopathic criminals can be dissociated from non-criminal individuals with comparable impulsive/antisocial personality tendencies based on the degree to which reward-related brain regions interact with brain regions that control behaviour. The present results help us understand why some people act according to their impulsive/antisocial personality while others are able to behave adaptively despite reward-related urges.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, P.O. Box 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, The Netherlands Radboud University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands dirk.e.m.geurts@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dirk E M
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Geurts
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, P.O. Box 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, The Netherlands Pompestichting, Centre for Forensic Psychiatry, Pro Persona, P.O. Box 31435, Nijmegen, 6503 CK, The Netherlands Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, Nijmegen, 6500 HE, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Katinka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Borries
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, P.O. Box 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, The Netherlands Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Volman
authors.affiliation: Pompestichting, Centre for Forensic Psychiatry, Pro Persona, P.O. Box 31435, Nijmegen, 6503 CK, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Berend Hendrik
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Bulten
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, P.O. Box 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, The Netherlands Radboud University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roshan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cools
authors.affiliation: Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, P.O. Box 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, The Netherlands Radboud University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands Pompestichting, Centre for Forensic Psychiatry, Pro Persona, P.O. Box 31435, Nijmegen, 6503 CK, The Netherlands Radboud University, Faculty of Law, P.O. box 9049, 6500 KK, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robbert-Jan
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Verkes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology; D057237:Criminals; D065786:Delay Discounting / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012201:Reward; D066328:Ventral Striatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: connectivity; criminality; dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; psychopathy; reward; ventral striatum