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Class 4: Antisocial PD and Psychopathy
Neurobiology of Psychopathy
Blair – Applying a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective to the Disorder of
Psychopathy
Four models of psychopathy (frontal lobe dysfunction, response
set modulation, fear dysfunction, and violence inhibition
mechanism hypotheses) are reviewed from the perspective of cognitive
neuroscience.
Each model is considered both with respect to the psychopathy data and,
more importantly, for the present purposes, with respect to the broader
cognitive neuroscience fields to which the model refers (e.g., models of
attention with respect to the response set modulation account and models of
emotion with respect to the fear dysfunction and violence inhibition
mechanism models).
Conclusion: The paper concludes with an articulation of the more recent
integrated emotion systems model, an account inspired both by recent
findings in affective cognitive neuroscience as well as in the study of
psychopathy.
Introduction
The cognitive neuroscientific approach is a linguistic formalization of one form
of interdiscipline integration that is occurring.
The importance of a multiple levels of analysis approach is clear
o For example, to understand a disorder we need to specify:
Its behavioral profile (i.e., its clinical description),
The functional impairments that give rise to this behavioral
profile (i.e., cognitive psychology)
The neural systems that mediate these functions (i.e., systems
neuroscience)
The molecular level factors that are impacting on the neural
systems (i.e., molecular neuroscience)
The genetic bases of these molecular level factors.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is the relatively formalized combination of the
fields of cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience.
o In short, cognitive neuroscience identifies an interdisciplinary approach
to understanding the nature of thought.
o Sometimes the term affective neuroscience is used to identify an
interdisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of emotion
Class 4: Antisocial PD and Psychopathy
Neurobiology of Psychopathy
Blair – Applying a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective to the Disorder of
Psychopathy
Four models of psychopathy (frontal lobe dysfunction, response
set modulation, fear dysfunction, and violence inhibition
mechanism hypotheses) are reviewed from the perspective of cognitive
neuroscience.
Each model is considered both with respect to the psychopathy data and,
more importantly, for the present purposes, with respect to the broader
cognitive neuroscience fields to which the model refers (e.g., models of
attention with respect to the response set modulation account and models of
emotion with respect to the fear dysfunction and violence inhibition
mechanism models).
Conclusion: The paper concludes with an articulation of the more recent
integrated emotion systems model, an account inspired both by recent
findings in affective cognitive neuroscience as well as in the study of
psychopathy.
Introduction
The cognitive neuroscientific approach is a linguistic formalization of one form
of interdiscipline integration that is occurring.
The importance of a multiple levels of analysis approach is clear
o For example, to understand a disorder we need to specify:
Its behavioral profile (i.e., its clinical description),
The functional impairments that give rise to this behavioral
profile (i.e., cognitive psychology)
The neural systems that mediate these functions (i.e., systems
neuroscience)
The molecular level factors that are impacting on the neural
systems (i.e., molecular neuroscience)
The genetic bases of these molecular level factors.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is the relatively formalized combination of the
fields of cognitive psychology and systems neuroscience.
o In short, cognitive neuroscience identifies an interdisciplinary approach
to understanding the nature of thought.
o Sometimes the term affective neuroscience is used to identify an
interdisciplinary approach to understanding the nature of emotion
