Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths.
Individuals with psychopathy present deficits in the recognition of facial emotional expressions. However, the nature and extent of these alterations are not fully understood. Furthermore, available data on the functional neural correlates of emotional face recognition deficits in adult psychopaths...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
|
Series: | PLoS ONE |
Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4866737?pdf=render |
id |
doaj-5faba969f37c4e39a560b7491210593d |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-5faba969f37c4e39a560b7491210593d2020-11-25T00:05:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01115e014980710.1371/journal.pone.0149807Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths.Vanessa Pera-GuardiolaOren Contreras-RodríguezIolanda BatallaDavid KossonJosé M MenchónJosep PifarréJavier BosqueNarcís CardonerCarles Soriano-MasIndividuals with psychopathy present deficits in the recognition of facial emotional expressions. However, the nature and extent of these alterations are not fully understood. Furthermore, available data on the functional neural correlates of emotional face recognition deficits in adult psychopaths have provided mixed results. In this context, emotional face morphing tasks may be suitable for clarifying mild and emotion-specific impairments in psychopaths. Likewise, studies exploring corresponding anatomical correlates may be useful for disentangling available neurofunctional evidence based on the alleged neurodevelopmental roots of psychopathic traits. We used Voxel-Based Morphometry and a morphed emotional face expression recognition task to evaluate the relationship between regional gray matter (GM) volumes and facial emotion recognition deficits in male psychopaths. In comparison to male healthy controls, psychopaths showed deficits in the recognition of sad, happy and fear emotional expressions. In subsequent brain imaging analyses psychopaths with better recognition of facial emotional expressions showed higher volume in the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal, inferior frontal and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices), somatosensory cortex, anterior insula, cingulate cortex and the posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Amygdala and temporal lobe volumes contributed to better emotional face recognition in controls only. These findings provide evidence suggesting that variability in brain morphometry plays a role in accounting for psychopaths' impaired ability to recognize emotional face expressions, and may have implications for comprehensively characterizing the empathy and social cognition dysfunctions typically observed in this population of subjects.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4866737?pdf=render |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Vanessa Pera-Guardiola Oren Contreras-Rodríguez Iolanda Batalla David Kosson José M Menchón Josep Pifarré Javier Bosque Narcís Cardoner Carles Soriano-Mas |
spellingShingle |
Vanessa Pera-Guardiola Oren Contreras-Rodríguez Iolanda Batalla David Kosson José M Menchón Josep Pifarré Javier Bosque Narcís Cardoner Carles Soriano-Mas Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Vanessa Pera-Guardiola Oren Contreras-Rodríguez Iolanda Batalla David Kosson José M Menchón Josep Pifarré Javier Bosque Narcís Cardoner Carles Soriano-Mas |
author_sort |
Vanessa Pera-Guardiola |
title |
Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. |
title_short |
Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. |
title_full |
Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. |
title_fullStr |
Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brain Structural Correlates of Emotion Recognition in Psychopaths. |
title_sort |
brain structural correlates of emotion recognition in psychopaths. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2016-01-01 |
description |
Individuals with psychopathy present deficits in the recognition of facial emotional expressions. However, the nature and extent of these alterations are not fully understood. Furthermore, available data on the functional neural correlates of emotional face recognition deficits in adult psychopaths have provided mixed results. In this context, emotional face morphing tasks may be suitable for clarifying mild and emotion-specific impairments in psychopaths. Likewise, studies exploring corresponding anatomical correlates may be useful for disentangling available neurofunctional evidence based on the alleged neurodevelopmental roots of psychopathic traits. We used Voxel-Based Morphometry and a morphed emotional face expression recognition task to evaluate the relationship between regional gray matter (GM) volumes and facial emotion recognition deficits in male psychopaths. In comparison to male healthy controls, psychopaths showed deficits in the recognition of sad, happy and fear emotional expressions. In subsequent brain imaging analyses psychopaths with better recognition of facial emotional expressions showed higher volume in the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal, inferior frontal and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices), somatosensory cortex, anterior insula, cingulate cortex and the posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Amygdala and temporal lobe volumes contributed to better emotional face recognition in controls only. These findings provide evidence suggesting that variability in brain morphometry plays a role in accounting for psychopaths' impaired ability to recognize emotional face expressions, and may have implications for comprehensively characterizing the empathy and social cognition dysfunctions typically observed in this population of subjects. |
url |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4866737?pdf=render |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT vanessaperaguardiola brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT orencontrerasrodriguez brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT iolandabatalla brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT davidkosson brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT josemmenchon brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT joseppifarre brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT javierbosque brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT narciscardoner brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths AT carlessorianomas brainstructuralcorrelatesofemotionrecognitioninpsychopaths |
_version_ |
1725424535077912576 |