Association of Callous Traits with Reduced Neural Response to Others%26apos; Pain in Children with Conduct Problems

作者：Lockwood Patricia L; Sebastian Catherine L; McCrory Eamon J; Hyde Zoe H; Gu Xiaosi; De Brito Stephane A; Viding Essi^*

来源：Current Biology, 2013, 23(10): 901-905.

DOI：10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.018

Children with conduct problems (CP) persistently violate others%26apos; rights and represent a considerable societal cost [1]. These children also display atypical empathic responses to others%26apos; distress [2], which may partly account for their violent and antisocial behavior. Callous traits index lack of empathy in these children and confer risk for adult psychopathy [3]. Investigating neural responses to others%26apos; pain is an ecologically valid method to probe empathic processing [4], but studies in children with CP have been inconclusive [5, 6]. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured neural responses to pictures of others in pain (versus no pain) in a large sample of children with CP and matched controls. Relative to controls, children with CP showed reduced blood oxygen level-dependent responses to others%26apos; pain in bilateral anterior insula (Al), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and inferior frontal gyrus, regions associated with empathy for pain in previous studies [7, 8]. In the CP group, callous traits were negatively associated with responses to others%26apos; pain in Al and ACC. We conclude that children with CP have atypical neural responses to others%26apos; pain. The negative association between callous traits and Al/ACC response could reflect an early neurobiological marker indexing risk for empathic deficits seen in adult psychopathy.

• 出版日期2013-5-20