Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.
Department of Psychology, Okanagan College, Penticton, BC, Canada; Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024 Dec;167:105904. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105904. Epub 2024 Sep 28.
Theories have posited that psychopathy is caused by dysfunction in the medial frontal cortex, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Recent reviews have questioned the reproducibility of neuroimaging findings within this field. We conducted a systematic review to describe the consistency of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings according to anatomical subregion (vmPFC, ACC, dmPFC), experimental task, psychopathy assessment, study power, and peak coordinates of significant effects. Searches of PsycInfo and MEDLINE databases produced 77 functional and 24 structural MRI studies that analyzed the medial frontal cortex in relation to psychopathy in adult samples. Findings were predominantly null (85.4 % of 1573 tests across the three medial frontal regions). Studies with higher power observed null effects at marginally lower rates. Finally, peak coordinates of significant effects were widely dispersed. The evidence failed to support theories positing the medial frontal cortex as a consistent neural correlate of psychopathy. Theory and methods in the field should be revised to account for predominantly null neuroimaging findings.
理论假设，精神变态是由内侧前额叶皮层（包括腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）、前扣带皮层（ACC）和背内侧前额叶皮层（dmPFC））功能障碍引起的。最近的综述质疑了该领域神经影像学发现的可重复性。我们进行了一项系统综述，根据解剖亚区（vmPFC、ACC、dmPFC）、实验任务、精神变态评估、研究能力和显著效应的峰值坐标来描述磁共振成像（MRI）发现的一致性。对 PsycInfo 和 MEDLINE 数据库的搜索产生了 77 项功能和 24 项结构 MRI 研究，这些研究分析了与成年样本中精神变态相关的内侧前额叶皮层。研究结果主要为阴性（三个内侧前额叶区域的 1573 个测试中有 85.4%为阴性）。具有更高功率的研究以略低的比率观察到阴性效应。最后，显著效应的峰值坐标广泛分散。证据不支持内侧前额叶皮层作为精神变态一致神经相关物的理论假设。该领域的理论和方法应进行修订，以解释主要为阴性的神经影像学发现。
