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Published byMarianna Freeman Modified over 9 years ago
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Briana Cassetta Kiehl, K. A., et al (2001). Limbic abnormalities in affective processing by criminal psychopaths as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Bio Psychiatry, 50, 677-684.
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Background Psychopathy Personality disorder 1% of general population, 15-25% of incarcerated offenders Characterized by: ○ Superficiality ○ Persuasiveness ○ Lack of empathy ○ Lack of guilt, remorse
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Introduction Prior research using behavioural methods Criminal psychopaths fail to experience emotional significance of stimuli Fail to show normal differentiated responses between emotional and neutral words Require more cognitive resources to process and evaluate affective stimuli
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Introduction Purpose: Use whole brain fMRI to examine neural systems of emotional processing during an affective memory task Hypothesis: Psychopaths will show less activation than healthy controls and criminal nonpsychopaths when processing affective words compared with neutrals
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Methods Subjects: 8 criminal psychopaths and 8 criminal nonpsychopaths from prison in Abbotsford ○ Escorted to UBC Hospital’s MRI Unit ○ Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised 8 healthy controls from general population
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Methods Materials and Procedure: 8 trials with 3 sequential phases: ○ Encoding: memorize list of 12 words ○ Rehearsal: mentally rehearse words ○ Recognition: 6 correct words and 6 incorrect words (indicate yes or no)
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Methods Procedure: 25s rest between trials Half of trials neutral words, half negative Words similar in length, imagery, concreteness 2 practice runs prior fMRI done during task
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Results No differences: neutral vs. rest Less affect-related activity in: Amygdala/hippocampal formation Parahippocampal gyrus Ventral striatum Anterior and postior cingulate gyri Greater activation for affective stimuli in: Bilateral fronto-temporal cortex
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Results
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Discussion Support hypothesis: abnormalities in limbic system and frontal cortex Amygdala, ventral striatum, hippocampal formation: emotion and memory Inferior lateral frontal cortex: semantic and decision-making processes
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Discussion Strengths: fMRI to identify specific structures No group differences Limitations: Small sample size for groups (sample specific effects?) Substance abuse Other disorders in criminal psychopaths
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Discussion Future studies: Different affective stimuli ○ Faces ○ Pictures Identification of other possible disorders ○ Depression / Mood Bigger sample size
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