Abstract:
Psychopathy is a pattern of traits that can be categorized by three general subdomains: grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and daring-impulsive. These traits are especially prevalent in incarcerated youth and correlate with antisocial behavior and criminal recidivism, thus posing a large societal cost. Recent EEG research has shown that an area of the brain known as the default mode network (DMN) has been associated with self-referential processing, essentially showing greater activation when people recognize traits that are true of themselves. Generally, this activation of the DMN has been associated with alpha band power in frontal cortical regions. The current study investigated the DMN through both EEG recording of alpha activity and source localization analyses (sLORETA) to determine whether incarcerated youth showed differential DMN activation while completing a measure of psychopathy and a measure of general personality characteristics. It was hypothesized that incarcerated youth with greater levels of psychopathic traits would show greater DMN activation while completing a measure of psychopathic traits compared to general personality. While measures of alpha wave activity did not support the general hypotheses, the sLORETA did reveal approach-motivated activation patterns during completion of the measure of psychopathic traits, and inhibition of DMN structures during the measure of general personality. The social implications of these findings are discussed, and areas of future research are identified both in terms of future EEG studies and treatment.
