Aberrant Neural Processing of Moral Violations in Criminal Psychopaths
Aberrant Neural Processing of Moral Violations in Criminal Psychopaths
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DOI：
10.1037/a0020979
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发表时间：
2010-11-01
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Kiehl, Kent A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Harenski, Carla L.;Harenski, Keith A.;Kiehl, Kent A.
精神变态的一个定义性特征是愿意故意对他人犯下道德上的罪行，而没有内疚或悔恨。尽管有这种“道德不敏感”，但精神病患者道德决策的行为和神经相关性还没有得到很好的研究。为了解决这个问题，作者使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）记录了72名被监禁男性成年人的血流动力学活动，并根据野兔精神病清单修订版（R）的评分将其分为精神病（n = 16）和非精神病（n = 16）组。D.黑尔，2003年），而他们作出的决定，对严重的道德侵犯的图片，没有或没有描绘道德的情况。与假设一致，在评估描述精神病患者与非精神病患者道德违规行为的图片时，对大脑活动的分析显示，在涉及道德决策的几个区域中存在非典型活动。这包括相对于非精神病患者，精神病患者的腹内侧前额叶皮层和前颞叶皮层的道德/非道德图片区分减少。在另一项分析中，研究人员比较了精神病患者和非精神病患者的道德违规严重程度与大脑活动之间的关系。结果显示，杏仁核的活动和严重性评级之间的正相关，是更大的非精神病患者比精神病患者，和后颞叶活动和严重性评级之间的负相关，是更大的精神病患者比非精神病患者。这些结果揭示了精神病中道德不敏感的潜在神经基础，并参考道德和精神病的神经生物学模型进行了讨论。
A defining characteristic of psychopathy is the willingness to intentionally commit moral transgressions against others without guilt or remorse. Despite this "moral insensitivity," the behavioral and neural correlates of moral decision-making in psychopathy have not been well studied. To address this issue, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record hemodynamic activity in 72 incarcerated male adults, stratified into psychopathic (n = 16) and nonpsychopathic (n = 16) groups based on scores from the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (R. D. Hare, 2003), while they made decisions regarding the severity of moral violations of pictures that did or did not depict moral situations. Consistent with hypotheses, an analysis of brain activity during the evaluation of pictures depicting moral violations in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths showed atypical activity in several regions involved in moral decision-making. This included reduced moral/nonmoral picture distinctions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior temporal cortex in psychopaths relative to nonpsychopaths. In a separate analysis, the association between severity of moral violation ratings and brain activity across participants was compared in psychopaths versus nonpsychopaths. Results revealed a positive association between amygdala activity and severity ratings that was greater in nonpsychopaths than psychopaths, and a negative association between posterior temporal activity and severity ratings that was greater in psychopaths than nonpsychopaths. These results reveal potential neural underpinnings of moral insensitivity in psychopathy and are discussed with reference to neurobiological models of morality and psychopathy.