Hosking Jay G, Kastman Erik K, Dorfman Hayley M, Samanez-Larkin Gregory R, Baskin-Sommers Arielle, Kiehl Kent A, Newman Joseph P, Buckholtz Joshua W
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Neuron. 2017 Jul 5;95(1):221-231.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.06.030.
Psychopathy is a personality disorder with strong links to criminal behavior. While research on psychopathy has focused largely on socio-affective dysfunction, recent data suggest that aberrant decision making may also play an important role. Yet, the circuit-level mechanisms underlying maladaptive decision making in psychopathy remain unclear. Here, we used a multi-modality functional imaging approach to identify these mechanisms in a population of adult male incarcerated offenders. Psychopathy was associated with stronger subjective value-related activity within the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during inter-temporal choice and with weaker intrinsic functional connectivity between NAcc and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). NAcc-vmPFC connectivity strength was negatively correlated with NAcc subjective value-related activity; however, this putative regulatory pattern was abolished as psychopathy severity increased. Finally, weaker cortico-striatal regulation predicted more frequent criminal convictions. These data suggest that cortico-striatal circuit dysregulation drives maladaptive decision making in psychopathy, supporting the notion that reward system dysfunction comprises an important neurobiological risk factor.
精神变态是一种与犯罪行为密切相关的人格障碍。虽然对精神变态的研究主要集中在社会情感功能障碍上，但最近的数据表明，异常决策也可能起重要作用。然而，精神变态中适应不良决策背后的神经回路水平机制仍不清楚。在这里，我们使用多模态功能成像方法在成年男性在押罪犯群体中识别这些机制。在跨期选择过程中，精神变态与伏隔核（NAcc）内更强的主观价值相关活动以及NAcc与腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）之间较弱的内在功能连接有关。NAcc-vmPFC连接强度与NAcc主观价值相关活动呈负相关；然而，随着精神变态严重程度的增加，这种假定的调节模式被消除。最后，较弱的皮质-纹状体调节预示着更频繁的刑事定罪。这些数据表明，皮质-纹状体回路失调驱动了精神变态中的适应不良决策，支持了奖励系统功能障碍构成重要神经生物学风险因素的观点。
