The Neurobiology of Psychopathic Traits in Youths and College Students

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel contains four empirical studies which address the etiology of psychopathic traits in non-incarcerated, non-institutionalized population using a variety of neurobiological methods. In the first and second study, researchers investigate the emotion recognition and moral decision-making, respectively, in college students with high psychopathic traits. More interestingly, both studies also examine the role of autonomic arousal on the above relationships. The third paper extends the second study by investigating the brain functioning abnormality that contributes to moral decision-making deficits in adolescents with psychopathic traits. Using a similar sample of adolescents, the last paper focuses on the relationship between psychopathic traits and testosterone and cortisol level. These four studies further elucidate the relationships between neurobiological deficits and psychopathic traits and may have important implications for intervention and treatment programs.

Sub Unit

• Area III: Perspectives on Crime and Criminal Behavior / 1: Biological, Bio-social, and Psychological Perspectives

Individual Presentations

• Emotion processing deficits in psychopathy - Shawn Fagan, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Yu Gao, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

• Moral Decision-Making and Psychopathic Personality - Jill Portnoy, University of Pennsylvania; Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania

• Prefrontal Cortex in Moral Judgment and Psychopathic Traits in Community-Recruited Adolescents - Rheanna J. Remmel, University of Alabama; Andrea Glenn, University of Alabama; Randall T. Salekin, University of Alabama; Thomas DeRamus, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Omar Maximo, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Rajesh K. Kana, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Associations between Cortisol, Testosterone, and Psychopathic Traits among Adolescents - Al Johnson, University of Alabama; Andrea Glenn, University of Alabama

Chair

• Yu Gao, Brooklyn College, City University of New York