Brain Network of Psychopathic Criminal Functions Differently

Summary: Researchers report a strong focus on reward coupled with a lack of self control appears to drive criminal psychopaths.

Source: Radboud University.

A strong focus on reward combined with a lack of self-control appears to be linked to the tendency to commit an offence. Brain scans show that this combination occurs in psychopathic criminals, say researchers from Nijmegen in an article in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

Many criminal offenders display psychopathic traits, such as antisocial and impulsive behaviour. And yet some individuals with psychopathic traits do not commit offences for which they are convicted. As with any other form of behaviour, psychopathic behaviour has a neurobiological basis. Researchers from the Donders Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at Radboudumc wanted to find out whether the way a psychopath’s brain works is visibly different from that of a non-psychopath. And whether there are differences between the brains of criminal and non-criminal psychopaths.

Reward centre more strongly activated

Dirk Geurts, researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at Radboudumc: “We carried out tests on 14 convicted psychopathic individuals, and 20 non-criminal individuals, half of whom had a high score on the psychopathy scale. The participants performed tests while their brain activity was measured in an MRI scanner. We saw that the reward centre in the brains of people with many psychopathic traits (both criminal and non-criminal) were more strongly activated than those in people without psychopathic traits. It has already been proved that the brains of non-criminal individuals with psychopathic traits are triggered by the expectation of reward. This research shows that this is also the case for criminal individuals with psychopathic traits.”

Little self-control and sensitivity to reward

Another interesting difference was discovered between non-criminal people with multiple psychopathic traits and criminal people with psychopathic traits. Geurts: “There is a difference in the communication between the reward centre and an area in the middle of the forebrain. Good communication between these areas would appear to be a condition for self-control. Our results seem to indicate that the tendency to commit an offence arises from a combination of a strong focus on reward and a lack of self-control. This is the first research project in which convicted criminals were actually examined.”

Image shows a brain.
It is probably partly hereditary, but abuse and severe stress during formative years also play a significant role. Follow-up studies will provide more information. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.


Predictors of criminal behaviour

Psychopathy consists of several elements. On the one hand, there is a lack of empathy and emotional involvement. On the other hand, we see impulsive and seriously antisocial, egocentric behaviour. Professor of Psychiatry and coordinator of the research Robbert-Jan Verkes: “Especially the latter character traits seem to be connected with an excessively sensitive reward centre. The presence of these impulsive and antisocial traits predict criminal behaviour more accurately than a lack of empathy. The next relevant question would be: what causes these brain abnormalities? It is probably partly hereditary, but abuse and severe stress during formative years also play a significant role. Follow-up studies will provide more information.

Brain scans in courtrooms?

So what do these findings mean for the free will? If the brain plays such an important role, to what extent can an individual be held responsible for his/her crimes? Will we be seeing brain scans in the courtroom? Verkes: “For the time being, these findings are only important at group level as they concern variations within the range of normal results. Of course if we can refine these and other types of examinations, we may well see brain scans being used in forensic psychiatric examinations of diminished responsibility in the future.”

About this psychology research article

Source: Radboud University
Image Source: This NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.
Original Research: Abstract for “Neural connectivity during reward expectation dissociates psychopathic criminals from non-criminal individuals with high impulsive/antisocial psychopathic traits” by Dirk Geurts, Katinka von Borries, Inge Volman I, Erik Bulten, Roshan Cools, and Robbert-Jan Verkes in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Published online June 20 2016 doi:10.1093/scan/nsw040

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Radboud University. “Brain Network of Psychopathic Criminal Functions Differently.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 5 August 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/neural-network-psychopath-4792/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Radboud University. (2016, August 5). Brain Network of Psychopathic Criminal Functions Differently. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved August 5, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/neural-network-psychopath-4792/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Radboud University. “Brain Network of Psychopathic Criminal Functions Differently.” https://neurosciencenews.com/neural-network-psychopath-4792/ (accessed August 5, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Neural connectivity during reward expectation dissociates psychopathic criminals from non-criminal individuals with high impulsive/antisocial psychopathic traits

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.

“Neural connectivity during reward expectation dissociates psychopathic criminals from non-criminal individuals with high impulsive/antisocial psychopathic traits” by Dirk Geurts, Katinka von Borries, Inge Volman I, Erik Bulten, Roshan Cools, and Robbert-Jan Verkes in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Published online June 20 2016 doi:10.1093/scan/nsw040

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