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Yaling Yang, PhD; Adrian Raine, DPhil; Katherine L. Narr, PhD; Patrick Colletti, MD; Arthur W. Toga, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(9):986-994.

Context  Despite the repeated findings of impaired fear conditioning and affective recognition in psychopathic individuals, there has been a paucity of brain imaging research on the amygdala and no evidence suggesting which regions within the amygdala may be structurally compromised in individuals with psychopathy.

Objective  To detect global and regional anatomical abnormalities in the amygdala in individuals with psychopathy.

Design  Cross-sectional design using structural magnetic resonance imaging.

Setting  Participants were recruited from high-risk communities (temporary employment agencies) in the Los Angeles, California, area and underwent imaging at a hospital research facility at the University of Southern California.

Participants  Twenty-seven psychopathic individuals as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised and 32 normal controls matched on age, sex, and ethnicity.

Main Outcome Measures  Amygdala volumes were examined using traditional volumetric analyses and surface-based mesh modeling methods were used to localize regional surface deformations.

Results  Individuals with psychopathy showed significant bilateral volume reductions in the amygdala compared with controls (left, 17.1%; right, 18.9%). Surface deformations were localized in regions in the approximate vicinity of the basolateral, lateral, cortical, and central nuclei of the amygdala. Significant correlations were found between reduced amygdala volumes and increased total and facet psychopathy scores, with correlations strongest for the affective and interpersonal facets of psychopathy.

Conclusions  Results provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of focal amygdala abnormalities in psychopathic individuals and corroborate findings from previous lesion studies. Findings support prior hypotheses of amygdala deficits in individuals with psychopathy and indicate that amygdala abnormalities contribute to emotional and behavioral symptoms of psychopathy.

Author Affiliations: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (Drs Yang, Narr, and Toga) and Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Southern California (Dr Colletti), Los Angeles; and Department of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Dr Raine).

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