Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy

Prior studies have inconsistently reported increased volumes of the striatum in adults with psychopathy. A meta-analysis presented here indicates an overall effect size of d = 0.44. Nevertheless, variability in findings exist, and questions remain on confounding clinical conditions and generalizabil...

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Main Authors: Choy, Olivia, Raine, Adrian, Schug, Robert
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161784
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1617842022-09-20T02:33:56Z Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy Choy, Olivia Raine, Adrian Schug, Robert School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Psychology Striatum Psychopathy Prior studies have inconsistently reported increased volumes of the striatum in adults with psychopathy. A meta-analysis presented here indicates an overall effect size of d = 0.44. Nevertheless, variability in findings exist, and questions remain on confounding clinical conditions and generalizability to females. This study tests the hypothesis that striatal volumes are increased in adults with psychopathic traits, and that this relationship is mediated by stimulation-seeking and impulsivity. Striatal volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging in 108 adult community-dwelling males alongside psychopathy using the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised. Subsidiary, exploratory analyses were conducted on a small sample of females. Correlational analyses showed that increased striatal volumes were associated with more psychopathic traits (p = .001). Effects were observed for all striatal regions, controlling for age, substance dependence and abuse, antisocial personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, social adversity, and total brain volume. An analysis of 18 psychopathic individuals showed that striatal volumes were increased 9.4% compared with 18 matched controls (p = .01). Psychopathy in females was also significantly associated with increased striatal volume (p = .02). Stimulation-seeking and impulsivity partly mediated the striatal-psychopathy relationship, accounting for 49.4% of this association. Findings from these two samples replicate and build on initial studies indicating striatal enlargement in adults with psychopathy, yielding an updated effect size of d = 0.48. Results are consistent with the notion that striatal abnormalities in individuals with psychopathy partly reflect increased sensation-seeking and impulsivity, and support the hypothesis of abnormal reward processing in psychopathy. This study was supported in part by a grant to the second author from NIH (K02MH01114). 2022-09-20T02:33:56Z 2022-09-20T02:33:56Z 2022 Journal Article Choy, O., Raine, A. & Schug, R. (2022). Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 149, 185-193. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.03.006 0022-3956 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161784 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.03.006 35279510 2-s2.0-85125955115 149 185 193 en Journal of Psychiatric Research © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Psychology
Striatum
Psychopathy
spellingShingle Social sciences::Psychology
Striatum
Psychopathy
Choy, Olivia
Raine, Adrian
Schug, Robert
Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
description Prior studies have inconsistently reported increased volumes of the striatum in adults with psychopathy. A meta-analysis presented here indicates an overall effect size of d = 0.44. Nevertheless, variability in findings exist, and questions remain on confounding clinical conditions and generalizability to females. This study tests the hypothesis that striatal volumes are increased in adults with psychopathic traits, and that this relationship is mediated by stimulation-seeking and impulsivity. Striatal volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging in 108 adult community-dwelling males alongside psychopathy using the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised. Subsidiary, exploratory analyses were conducted on a small sample of females. Correlational analyses showed that increased striatal volumes were associated with more psychopathic traits (p = .001). Effects were observed for all striatal regions, controlling for age, substance dependence and abuse, antisocial personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, social adversity, and total brain volume. An analysis of 18 psychopathic individuals showed that striatal volumes were increased 9.4% compared with 18 matched controls (p = .01). Psychopathy in females was also significantly associated with increased striatal volume (p = .02). Stimulation-seeking and impulsivity partly mediated the striatal-psychopathy relationship, accounting for 49.4% of this association. Findings from these two samples replicate and build on initial studies indicating striatal enlargement in adults with psychopathy, yielding an updated effect size of d = 0.48. Results are consistent with the notion that striatal abnormalities in individuals with psychopathy partly reflect increased sensation-seeking and impulsivity, and support the hypothesis of abnormal reward processing in psychopathy.
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Choy, Olivia
Raine, Adrian
Schug, Robert
format Article
author Choy, Olivia
Raine, Adrian
Schug, Robert
author_sort Choy, Olivia
title Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
title_short Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
title_full Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
title_fullStr Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
title_full_unstemmed Larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
title_sort larger striatal volume is associated with increased adult psychopathy
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161784
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