Somatic markers and response reversal: is there orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in boys with psychopathic tendencies?

J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2001 Dec;29(6):499-511. doi: 10.1023/a:1012277125119.

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of boys with psychopathic tendencies and comparison boys, aged 9 to 17 years, on two tasks believed to be sensitive to amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex functioning. Fifty-one boys were divided into two groups according to the Psychopathy Screening Device (PSD, P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, in press) and presented with two tasks. The tasks were the gambling task (A. Bechara, A. R. Damasio, H. Damasio, & S. W. Anderson, 1994) and the Intradimensional/Extradimensional (ID/ED) shift task (R. Dias, T. W. Robbins, & A. C. Roberts, 1996). The boys with psychopathic tendencies showed impaired performance on the gambling task. However, there were no group differences on the ID/ED task either for response reversal or extradimensional set shifting. The implications of these results for models of psychopathy are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Amygdala / physiopathology*
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / physiopathology*
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / psychology
  • Attention / physiology
  • Child
  • Discrimination Learning / physiology
  • Frontal Lobe / physiopathology*
  • Gambling / psychology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Motivation
  • Neuropsychological Tests*
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Reversal Learning / physiology*