Marcin A Radecki, J Michael Maurer, Keith A Harenski, David D Stephenson, Erika Sampaolo, Giada Lettieri, Giacomo Handjaras, Emiliano Ricciardi, Samantha N Rodriguez, Craig S Neumann, Carla L Harenski, Sara Palumbo, Silvia Pellegrini, Jean Decety, Pietro Pietrini, Kent A Kiehl, Luca Cecchetti
{"title":"Cortical structure in relation to empathy and psychopathy in 800 incarcerated men.","authors":"Marcin A Radecki, J Michael Maurer, Keith A Harenski, David D Stephenson, Erika Sampaolo, Giada Lettieri, Giacomo Handjaras, Emiliano Ricciardi, Samantha N Rodriguez, Craig S Neumann, Carla L Harenski, Sara Palumbo, Silvia Pellegrini, Jean Decety, Pietro Pietrini, Kent A Kiehl, Luca Cecchetti","doi":"10.1101/2023.06.14.543399","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Reduced empathy is a hallmark of individuals with high psychopathy, who are overrepresented among incarcerated men. However, a comprehensive mapping of cortical structure in relation to empathy and psychopathy is lacking.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In 804 incarcerated adult men, we administered the Perspective Taking (IRI-PT) and Empathic Concern (IRI-EC) subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Interpersonal/Affective [F1] and Lifestyle/Antisocial [F2] factors), and T1-weighted MRI to quantify cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA). We also included the male sample from the Human Connectome Project (HCP; N = 501) to probe the replicability of structural-covariance gradients.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>PCL-R F1 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-EC, while PCL-R F2 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-PT. Cortical structure was not related to either IRI subscale, although there was effect-size differentiation by cytoarchitectonic class and/or functional network. CT was related to PCL-R F1 (mostly positively), SA was related to both PCL-R factors (only positively), and both cortical indices demonstrated out-of-sample predictive utility for PCL-R F1. The high-psychopathy group (N = 178) scored uniquely lower on IRI-EC while having increased SA (but not CT); across the cortex, effect sizes were largest in the paralimbic class and somatomotor network, and meta-analytic task-based activations corroborated affective/sensory importance. Finally, the total sample revealed anterior-posterior gradients of covariance, which were replicated in the HCP sample. In the high-psychopathy group, the gradient of CT (but not SA) was globally compressed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Most notably, high-psychopathy men had reduced empathic concern, increased SA, and compressed macroscale organization of CT.</p>","PeriodicalId":72407,"journal":{"name":"bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology","volume":"11 suppl_1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11996374/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.14.543399","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Reduced empathy is a hallmark of individuals with high psychopathy, who are overrepresented among incarcerated men. However, a comprehensive mapping of cortical structure in relation to empathy and psychopathy is lacking.
Methods: In 804 incarcerated adult men, we administered the Perspective Taking (IRI-PT) and Empathic Concern (IRI-EC) subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Interpersonal/Affective [F1] and Lifestyle/Antisocial [F2] factors), and T1-weighted MRI to quantify cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA). We also included the male sample from the Human Connectome Project (HCP; N = 501) to probe the replicability of structural-covariance gradients.
Results: PCL-R F1 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-EC, while PCL-R F2 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-PT. Cortical structure was not related to either IRI subscale, although there was effect-size differentiation by cytoarchitectonic class and/or functional network. CT was related to PCL-R F1 (mostly positively), SA was related to both PCL-R factors (only positively), and both cortical indices demonstrated out-of-sample predictive utility for PCL-R F1. The high-psychopathy group (N = 178) scored uniquely lower on IRI-EC while having increased SA (but not CT); across the cortex, effect sizes were largest in the paralimbic class and somatomotor network, and meta-analytic task-based activations corroborated affective/sensory importance. Finally, the total sample revealed anterior-posterior gradients of covariance, which were replicated in the HCP sample. In the high-psychopathy group, the gradient of CT (but not SA) was globally compressed.
Conclusions: Most notably, high-psychopathy men had reduced empathic concern, increased SA, and compressed macroscale organization of CT.