Psychophysiological and Neuropsychological Characteristics of Non-Incarcerated Adult Males with Higher Levels of Psychopathic Personality Traits

Although much research on psychopathic individuals has been conducted in incarcerated settings, there is increasing interest in studying adults with higher levels of psychopathic traits in the general population. The present study investigated differences in psychophysiological response and neuropsychological functioning between undergraduate males with higher levels of psychopathic traits (higher-p) and undergraduate males with lower levels of psychopathic traits (lower-p). Participants completed self-report measures and neuropsychological measures, and skin conductance response was measured during a risk-taking and affective-picture viewing task. Consistent with previous findings among samples of incarcerated psychopaths, higher-p adults exhibited diminished responses to aversive and positive affective stimuli and were more disinhibited on a motoric response inhibition task. Contrary to expectations, higher-p adults made marginally better decisions on a risky decision making task. Findings were discussed in relation to Gao and Raines’ (Behavioral Sciences & the Law 28(2) 194–210, 2010) model of the neurobiological underpinnings of adults with higher levels of psychopathic traits in non-incarcerated settings, and offer evidence that higher-p adults have both adaptive and non-adaptive traits.     

The moral behavior of ethics professors: Relationships among self-reported behavior,expressed normative attitude,and directly observed behavior

Do philosophy professors specializing in ethics behave, on average, any morally better than do other professors? If not, do they at least behave more consistently with their expressed values? These questions have never been systematically studied. We examine the self-reported moral attitudes and moral behavior of 198 ethics professors, 208 non-ethicist philosophers, and 167 professors in departments other than philosophy on eight moral issues: academic society membership, voting, staying in touch with one's mother, vegetarianism, organ and blood donation, responsiveness to student emails, charitable giving, and honesty in responding to survey questionnaires. On some issues, we also had direct behavioral measures that we could compare with the self-reports. Ethicists expressed somewhat more stringent normative attitudes on some issues, such as vegetarianism and charitable donation. However, on no issue did ethicists show unequivocally better behavior than the two comparison groups. Our findings on attitude-behavior consistency were mixed: ethicists showed the strongest relationship between behavior and expressed moral attitude regarding voting but the weakest regarding charitable donation. We discuss implications for several models of the relationship between philosophical reflection and real-world moral behavior.     

The Development of Global and Local Processing: A Comparison of Children to Adults

In light of the adult model of a hemispheric asymmetry of global and local processing, we compared children (M _age = 8.4 years) to adults in a global-local reaction time (RT) paradigm. Hierarchical designs (large shapes made of small shapes) were presented randomly to each visual field, and participants were instructed to identify either the global or the local level in each of two blocks. We obtained evidence of a global-local processing asymmetry, with stronger effects for children than for adults. In both children and adults, responses were faster and more accurate for global identification in the right hemisphere and for local identification in the left hemisphere. Similarly, a significant asymmetry of global and local interference was obtained in children but not in adults. Interference reflects the RT cost of conflicting information at the nonattended level. For example, local interference indicates the degree to which inconsistency at the local level slows global identification. Stronger evidence for lateralized processing in children is discussed within the framework of increasing interhemispheric transfer. That is, as interhemispheric transfer increases, cost of presentation to the nonpreferred hemisphere (e.g., local identification in the right hemisphere) is reduced.     

Unravelling Crime Series Patterns amongst Serial Sex Offenders: Duration,Frequency, and Environmental Consistency

Crime linkage and the investigation of behavioural consistency amongst serial offenders has been a flourishing field of research over the past decade or so, especially with respect to serial sex offenders. The emerging research in this field has often portrayed serial sex offenders as a single, distinct, and homogeneous group. Such an assumption, however, has never been empirically examined. Using a criminal career approach and a sample of 72 serial sex offenders who have committed a total of 361 sexual assaults on stranger victims, the current study aims to examine and describe subgroups of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders in terms of duration and frequency of offending. The level of environmental consistency display (i.e. offender's choice of crime location and characteristics of the crime site selected) across subgroups of crime series patterns is also examined. Study findings suggest the presence and heterogeneity of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders, advocating for the consideration of subgroups of crime series patterns when studying serial sex offenders. Moreover, the offenders' level of environmental consistency varies across the different crime series patterns identified, allowing for the identification of subgroups of offenders showing a higher or lower level of environmental consistency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model‐based approach to limb apraxia in Alzheimer's disease

Limb apraxia is a neurological deficit characterized by an inability to pantomime and/or imitate gestures, which can result from neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). The major goal of the study was to describe comprehensively the apraxia deficits observed in AD patients and to relate those deficits to general cognitive status, measures of daily activity, and other neuropsychological measures. Limb apraxia was assessed on a variety of conceptual and gesture production tasks in 30 AD patients. As a group, AD patients were impaired across gesture production tasks: of note was the greater impairment in imitation, as opposed to pantomime, which was especially pronounced when patients were imitating with a delay. Imitation performance was best predicted by measures of visuospatial processing, while imitation with delay was best predicted by measures of working memory. In addition, pantomime in response to pictures of tools was less accurate than Pantomime to Verbal Command and holding the tool during performance did not decrease the participants' impairment, while introducing a verbal cue during imitation increased the severity of deficits. Furthermore, investigation into patterns of deficits clearly demonstrated that the nature of limb apraxia deficits observed in AD can be quite heterogeneous and that dissociations between the conceptual and the production system exist. Finally, we also report on significant correlations between general cognitive status and limb apraxia.