Attention network performance and psychopathic symptoms in early adolescence: An ERP study

Kristina Hiatt Racer; Tara Torassa Gilbert; Phan Luu; Joshua Felver-Gant; Yalchin Abdullaev; Thomas J. Dishion

doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9522-6

Attention network performance and psychopathic symptoms in early adolescence: An ERP study

Kristina Hiatt Racer, Tara Torassa Gilbert, Phan Luu, Joshua Felver-Gant, Yalchin Abdullaev, Thomas J. Dishion

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to examine the relationships between psychopathic symptoms and three major attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive attention) among a community sample of youth. Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick and Hare 2001) total and subscale scores were negatively correlated with ERP measures of attentional alerting, indicating that youth with psychopathic symptoms had difficulty using warning cues to prepare for upcoming targets. APSD total scores were not related to performance on measures of orienting or executive attention, although weaker executive attention was found among youth with higher scores on the Impulsivity subscale. These findings support attention-based models of psychopathy and provide evidence of specific deficits in attentional alerting among youth with psychopathic traits. Deficiencies in attentional alerting may be related to noradrenergic functioning and may have cascading effects on higher order cognitive and affective processing.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1001-1012
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
Volume	39
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9522-6
State	Published - Oct 2011

Keywords

ANT
Antisocial personality
Attention
Evoked potential
Psychopathy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

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10.1007/s10802-011-9522-6

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title = "Attention network performance and psychopathic symptoms in early adolescence: An ERP study",

abstract = "Reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to examine the relationships between psychopathic symptoms and three major attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive attention) among a community sample of youth. Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick and Hare 2001) total and subscale scores were negatively correlated with ERP measures of attentional alerting, indicating that youth with psychopathic symptoms had difficulty using warning cues to prepare for upcoming targets. APSD total scores were not related to performance on measures of orienting or executive attention, although weaker executive attention was found among youth with higher scores on the Impulsivity subscale. These findings support attention-based models of psychopathy and provide evidence of specific deficits in attentional alerting among youth with psychopathic traits. Deficiencies in attentional alerting may be related to noradrenergic functioning and may have cascading effects on higher order cognitive and affective processing.",

keywords = "ANT, Antisocial personality, Attention, Evoked potential, Psychopathy",

author = "Racer, {Kristina Hiatt} and Gilbert, {Tara Torassa} and Phan Luu and Joshua Felver-Gant and Yalchin Abdullaev and Dishion, {Thomas J.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments This project was supported by National Institutes of Health grants MH82127 to KHR and MH20012 and DA018760 to TJD.",

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AU - Abdullaev, Yalchin

AU - Dishion, Thomas J.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments This project was supported by National Institutes of Health grants MH82127 to KHR and MH20012 and DA018760 to TJD.

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N2 - Reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to examine the relationships between psychopathic symptoms and three major attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive attention) among a community sample of youth. Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick and Hare 2001) total and subscale scores were negatively correlated with ERP measures of attentional alerting, indicating that youth with psychopathic symptoms had difficulty using warning cues to prepare for upcoming targets. APSD total scores were not related to performance on measures of orienting or executive attention, although weaker executive attention was found among youth with higher scores on the Impulsivity subscale. These findings support attention-based models of psychopathy and provide evidence of specific deficits in attentional alerting among youth with psychopathic traits. Deficiencies in attentional alerting may be related to noradrenergic functioning and may have cascading effects on higher order cognitive and affective processing.

AB - Reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to examine the relationships between psychopathic symptoms and three major attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive attention) among a community sample of youth. Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick and Hare 2001) total and subscale scores were negatively correlated with ERP measures of attentional alerting, indicating that youth with psychopathic symptoms had difficulty using warning cues to prepare for upcoming targets. APSD total scores were not related to performance on measures of orienting or executive attention, although weaker executive attention was found among youth with higher scores on the Impulsivity subscale. These findings support attention-based models of psychopathy and provide evidence of specific deficits in attentional alerting among youth with psychopathic traits. Deficiencies in attentional alerting may be related to noradrenergic functioning and may have cascading effects on higher order cognitive and affective processing.

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Attention network performance and psychopathic symptoms in early adolescence: An ERP study

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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