Psychopathic traits and social brain responses during moral evaluation in adolescence.

Autor: Beckerson ME; Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Center for Innovative Research in Autism, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA., Remmel RJ; The Office of Forensic Mental Health Services, Olympia, Washington, USA., Glenn AL; Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Center for the Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA., Kana RK; Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Center for Innovative Research in Autism, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA. Electronic address: rkkana@ua.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging [Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging] 2023 Aug; Vol. 333, pp. 111672. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 10.
DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111672
Abstrakt: Brain functioning underlying moral decision-making in adolescents with psychopathic traits is relatively less understood. This fMRI study examined the neural correlates of moral decision-making in relation to psychopathic traits, as measured by the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), in a sample of 16 community-recruited youth (mean age=13.94) with reported behavior problems. Participants viewed images that depicted a moral violation, a conflict with no moral violation, and a neutral scenario. We analyzed activation, seed-to-voxel, and seed-to-seed functional connectivity using a social brain mask during moral reasoning and decision-making. Results indicated: a) greater activity in social brain regions while assessing acts of moral, compared to nonmoral, violations; b) positive correlations between activation of several social brain regions and YPI subscale scores; c) a positive association between YPI and functional connectivity between the social brain network and the bilateral middle cingulate cortices; d) significant effects of YPI on connectivity between social brain regions and the rest of the brain; and e) decreased connectivity between several ROIs during moral reasoning: the left temporoparietal junction (lTPJ) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), the precuneus (PREC) and left amygdala (lAMYG), and the PREC and rAMYG. Clinical and developmental implications of these findings are discussed.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest This study was supported by the University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences Faculty funds. Special thanks to Rishi Deshpande for providing computational support for this project. We also appreciate Dr. Thomas DeRamus and Dr. Jose Omar Maximo for their help during data collection for this project. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
(Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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