Browsing by Subject "neurobiologiset poikkeavuudet"

Abstract Background and Objectives. Psychopathy is defined as a personality construction characterized by deviant interpersonal, affective, lifestyle related and antisocial traits, such as manipulativeness, pathological lying, emotional coldness, lack of empathy, remorse and long-term goals, impulsiveness and usually also criminal lifestyle. The prevalence of psychopathy is less than one percent in population, though it is much higher among incarcerated people. Therefore, psychopathy is considered a major social and financial burden to the society. There have been made plenty of research about neurobiological and physiological components of psychopathy. This study aims to specify those neurobiological and physical components that separate psychopaths from other people. Research methods. The data was gathered mainly using Google Scholar website. The aim was to search for peer reviewed articles from years 2004 to 2019 with keywords “psychopath” or ”psychopathy” combined with words such as ”criminality”, ”neurology”, ”neurobiology”, ”neurophysiology” and ”neuroimaging”. Inner references of research articles were also utilized. Results and Conclusions. The current neurobiological models of psychopathy present amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex and these dysfunctional connections as well as paralimbic system and its dysfunction as the typical neurobiological components of psychopathy. Neurobiological anomalies connected to psychopathy include reduced amygdala volume and activation, hippocampal structural asymmetry, reduced frontal lobe activation and abnormal activity in networks connecting limbic areas. These are especially seen with criminal psychopaths. Also, low skin conductance, weak activation in corrugator supercilii muscle and weak or absent startle response are seen to be connected to psychopathy. These findings can be accounting for lack of emotional reactions such as fear and empathy and also emotional coldness. Generalization of results is impaired by homogeneity of samples resulting from concentrating on prisoners and incarcerated population, as well as small sample sizes. Based on the study, it´s possible to understand the essence of psychopathy as a construction, that links neurobiological and physiological anomalies and their synergies.