Psychopathy and P300 ERP in Juvenile Offenders

• In Event: Physiological Correlates of Conduct Problems and Applications to Treatment

Abstract

There have been mixed results when investigating P3 ERP and psychopathy in adolescent offenders. Some studies have found a negative correlation between psychopathy and P3 amplitude. P3 amplitude might be the best indicator of externalizing behavior (Patrick et al., 2012). This study will further investigate the association between psychopathy and P3 ERP in adolescent offenders during a visual oddball task. We recruited 50 male adolescents (mean age=15.11 yrs) from a juvenile detention facility. Psychopathy was measured using the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD, Frick 2001), and then EEG tasks were administered. Our hypothesis was that juvenile offenders with higher psychopathy would have reduced P3 amplitude during the target trials of the visual oddball task. P3 amplitude has been correlated with externalizing behavior and impulsivity, but not the other factors of psychopathy. Because of this, we hypothesized that the factor impulsivity would be negatively correlated with P3 amplitude. Neither psychopathy nor any of its factors were significantly correlated with P3 amplitude. This might be explained by considering the developmental stage of these offenders. In previous literature, many of the samples have included adults or older adolescents. Also, the deficit in P3 might be more prominent in a higher psychopathy sample.

Authors

• Abby Clark, University of Alabama

• Randall T. Salekin, University of Alabama