S. C. Chester, J. C. Rogers, T. Ogawa, M. Terao, R. Nakai, N. Abe, S. A. De Brito
{"title":"White Matter Correlates of Psychopathic Traits in a Japanese Community Sample: Sex Matters!","authors":"S. C. Chester, J. C. Rogers, T. Ogawa, M. Terao, R. Nakai, N. Abe, S. A. De Brito","doi":"10.1111/ejn.70177","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Psychopathy is a personality disorder marked by distinct interpersonal, affective and behavioural abnormalities. Relatively little is known about associations between psychopathic traits and white matter (WM) microstructure among community samples, as most diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) research has focused on small clinical and forensic samples. These studies are also often limited to males from Western populations, leaving gaps in the understanding of females and non-Western populations. This study uses DTI data from a large community sample (<i>n</i> = 97) of well-functioning Japanese adults (45 males, aged 21–39 years). We used tract-based spatial statistics to investigate WM microstructural integrity (whole brain corrected using threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE), <i>p</i> < 0.05). Psychopathy traits were measured using the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-SF). Region of interest analysis showed that callous affect scores negatively correlated with fractional anisotropy and axial diffusivity in the left cingulum. Furthermore, analysis across the entire white matter skeleton revealed that sex acted as a moderator in the association between psychopathy trait scores and mean diffusivity (MD) in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, and corpus callosum. The interaction showed that psychopathy trait scores were positively associated with MD in females, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in males. Our findings offer novel insights into the white matter correlates of psychopathic traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":11993,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70177","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.70177","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Psychopathy is a personality disorder marked by distinct interpersonal, affective and behavioural abnormalities. Relatively little is known about associations between psychopathic traits and white matter (WM) microstructure among community samples, as most diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) research has focused on small clinical and forensic samples. These studies are also often limited to males from Western populations, leaving gaps in the understanding of females and non-Western populations. This study uses DTI data from a large community sample (n = 97) of well-functioning Japanese adults (45 males, aged 21–39 years). We used tract-based spatial statistics to investigate WM microstructural integrity (whole brain corrected using threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE), p < 0.05). Psychopathy traits were measured using the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-SF). Region of interest analysis showed that callous affect scores negatively correlated with fractional anisotropy and axial diffusivity in the left cingulum. Furthermore, analysis across the entire white matter skeleton revealed that sex acted as a moderator in the association between psychopathy trait scores and mean diffusivity (MD) in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, and corpus callosum. The interaction showed that psychopathy trait scores were positively associated with MD in females, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in males. Our findings offer novel insights into the white matter correlates of psychopathic traits.
期刊介绍:
EJN is the journal of FENS and supports the international neuroscientific community by publishing original high quality research articles and reviews in all fields of neuroscience. In addition, to engage with issues that are of interest to the science community, we also publish Editorials, Meetings Reports and Neuro-Opinions on topics that are of current interest in the fields of neuroscience research and training in science. We have recently established a series of ‘Profiles of Women in Neuroscience’. Our goal is to provide a vehicle for publications that further the understanding of the structure and function of the nervous system in both health and disease and to provide a vehicle to engage the neuroscience community. As the official journal of FENS, profits from the journal are re-invested in the neuroscientific community through the activities of FENS.