Department of Psychology, Florida State University, 1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4301, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2012 Aug;24(3):1047-71. doi: 10.1017/S0954579412000533.
We propose that neuroscientific understanding of antisocial behavior can be advanced by focusing programmatic efforts on neurobehavioral trait constructs, that is, individual difference constructs with direct referents in neurobiology as well as behavior. As specific examples, we highlight inhibitory control and defensive reactivity as two such constructs with clear relevance for understanding antisocial behavior in the context of development. Variations in inhibitory control are theorized to reflect individual differences in the functioning of brain systems that operate to guide and inhibit behavior and regulate emotional response in the service of nonimmediate goals. Variations in defensive reactivity are posited to reflect individual differences in the sensitivity of the brain's aversive motivational (fear) system. We describe how these constructs have been conceptualized in the adult and child literatures and review work pertaining to traditional psychometric (rating and behaviorally based) assessment of these constructs and their known physiological correlates at differing ages as well as evidence linking these constructs to antisocial behavior problems in children and adults. We outline a psychoneurometric approach, which entails systematic development of neurobiological measures of target trait constructs through reference to psychological phenotypes, as a paradigm for linking clinical disorders to neurobiological systems. We provide a concrete illustration of this approach in the domain of externalizing proneness and discuss its broader implications for research on conduct disorder, antisocial personality, and psychopathy.
我们提出，通过将有计划的努力集中在神经行为特征结构上，可以推进对反社会行为的神经科学理解，也就是说，将直接涉及神经生物学和行为的个体差异结构作为研究对象。作为具体的例子，我们强调抑制控制和防御反应性作为两个这样的结构，它们对于理解发展背景下的反社会行为具有明确的相关性。抑制控制的变化被理论化为反映了大脑系统功能的个体差异，这些系统用于指导和抑制行为，并在非即时目标的服务下调节情绪反应。防御反应性的变化被假定为反映了大脑厌恶动机（恐惧）系统的敏感性的个体差异。我们描述了这些结构在成人和儿童文献中的概念化方式，并回顾了与这些结构的传统心理计量学（评分和基于行为的）评估及其在不同年龄的已知生理相关性以及将这些结构与儿童和成人的反社会行为问题联系起来的证据有关的工作。我们概述了一种心理神经计量学方法，该方法通过参考心理表型来系统地开发目标特征结构的神经生物学测量，作为将临床障碍与神经生物学系统联系起来的范例。我们在外倾倾向领域提供了这种方法的具体示例，并讨论了其对行为障碍、反社会人格和精神病态研究的更广泛影响。
