Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009

EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence
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February 11-13 2009
ne u r a l co r r e l a t e s o f aD a p t i v e Decision
ma k i n g u n D e r un c e r t a i n t y in vi o l e n t
cr m i n a l of f e n D e r s w i t h ps y c h o p a t h y
a m D bo r D e r l i n e pe r s o n a l i t y Di s o r D e r
Prehn, Kristin 1 ; Schlagenhauf, Florian 2 ; Schulze, Lars 1 ;
Berger, Christoph 1 ; Vohs, Knut 1 ; Wagner, Sabine 3 ; Hauenstein,
Karlheinz 3 ; Domes, Gregor 4 ; Herpertz, Sabine C. 1
1 Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University, Rostock,
Germany; 2 Dept. of Psychiatry, Charité University Medicine,
Berlin, Germany; 3 Department of Radiology, Rostock University,
Rostock, Germany; 4 Dept. of Psychology, University of Zurich,
Zurich, Switzerland
In everyday life individuals are required to make decisions that bear a certain
degree of uncertainty regarding potential gains and losses. Individuals
differ with respect to their ability to adjust their choices and behavior in
the face of higher risk.
To investigate the neural systems mediating these differences, we presented
healthy controls (n=13) and two groups of criminal offenders [11
patients with psychopathy as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist
and 12 patients with DSM-IV borderline personality disorder (BPD)] with
the Behavioral Investment Allocation Strategy task (Kuhnen &Knutson,
2005) and monitored brain activity using fMRI. During this task, participants
were required to choose between two stocks and a bond. At the
beginning of an experimental block one of the two stocks was randomly
assigned to be the “good” (+10 €) or the “bad” stock ( 10 €) without the
participants´ knowledge. The bond always paid 1 Euro.
When uncertainty which stock to choose was high (e.g., at the beginning
of a block) controls showed adaptive risk-avoidant behavior (i.e.,
were more likely to choose the bond). Chosing the bond in trials with high
uncertainty was preceded by increased activity in a functional network
including insula, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and pre-supplementary motor
area. Uncertainty was represented in rostral anterior cingulate gyrus
(rACC). Criminal offenders with BPD did not choose more bonds when
uncertainty was high. This risk-seeking behavior was accompanied by less
activity in IFG before choosing the bond in contrast to controls. Psychopaths
only differed from controls by decreased activity in rACC reflecting a
deficit to emotionally represent uncertainty.
These results support the theory that criminal offenders with psychopathy
are characterized by a lack of emotion, whereas criminal offenders with
BPD show a more pronounced deficit in behavioral control to adjust their
choices in the face of higher risk.