TY - JOUR T1 - Psychopathy and the mirror neuron system: preliminary findings from a non-psychiatric sample. JF - Psychiatry Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Shirley Fecteau A1 - Pascual-Leone, Alvaro A1 - Théoret, Hugo KW - Adult KW - Antisocial Personality Disorder KW - Emotions KW - Empathy KW - Evoked Potentials, Motor KW - Functional Laterality KW - Hand Injuries KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Models, Neurological KW - Motor Cortex KW - Motor Neurons KW - Pain KW - Personality Inventory KW - Reaction Time KW - Somatosensory Cortex KW - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation AB -

Recent advances in social neuroscience suggest a link between empathy and the mirror neuron system (MNS). Impaired empathy is one of the core diagnostic features of psychopathic personality disorder. In the present study, we investigated whether psychopathic personality traits in a non-psychiatric sample were related to MNS function. Healthy participants viewed short videos known to activate the sensorimotor MNS for pain (a needle penetrating a human hand) while transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor evoked potentials (MEP) were recorded as a measure of motor cortex excitability. Individual psychopathic personality traits were assessed using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) and correlated with the MEP findings. Consistent with previous data, observation of the painful stimulus was associated with a significant reduction in the amplitude of the TMS-induced MEP. Interestingly, the level of corticospinal excitability modulation was positively correlated with individual scores on the coldheartedness subscale of the PPI, such that individuals with the greatest MEP reduction were the ones scoring highest on the coldheartedness measure. These data suggest the existence of a functional link between 'motor empathy' and psychopathy.

VL - 160 IS - 2 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18599127?dopt=Abstract ER -