Center for the Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
Educational Psychology Program, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2017 Aug 30;266:123-137. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.06.008. Epub 2017 Jun 19.
Lying is one of the characteristic features of psychopathy, and has been recognized in clinical and diagnostic descriptions of the disorder, yet individuals with psychopathic traits have been found to have reduced neural activity in many of the brain regions that are important for lying. In this study, we examine brain activity in sixteen individuals with varying degrees of psychopathic traits during a task in which they are instructed to falsify information or tell the truth about autobiographical and non-autobiographical facts, some of which was related to criminal behavior. We found that psychopathic traits were primarily associated with increased activity in the anterior cingulate, various regions of the prefrontal cortex, insula, angular gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobe when participants falsified information of any type. Associations tended to be stronger when participants falsified information about criminal behaviors. Although this study was conducted in a small sample of individuals and the task used has limited ecological validity, these findings support a growing body of literature suggesting that in some contexts, individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits may demonstrate heightened levels of brain activity.
说谎是精神病态的特征之一，在该障碍的临床和诊断描述中已得到认可，但具有精神病态特征的个体在许多对说谎很重要的大脑区域中被发现其神经活动减少。在这项研究中，我们在一项任务中检查了 16 名具有不同程度精神病态特征的个体的大脑活动，在该任务中，他们被指示伪造有关自传和非自传事实的信息或讲真话，其中一些与犯罪行为有关。我们发现，当参与者伪造任何类型的信息时，精神病态特征主要与前扣带、前额叶皮层的各个区域、脑岛、角回和下顶叶的活动增加有关。当参与者伪造有关犯罪行为的信息时，关联往往更强。尽管这项研究是在一小部分个体中进行的，并且所使用的任务具有有限的生态有效性，但这些发现支持了越来越多的文献，这些文献表明在某些情况下，具有较高精神病态特征的个体可能表现出更高水平的大脑活动。
