Neuroscience, Empathy, and Violent Crime in an Incarcerated Population: A Narrative Review

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2021 Aug 16

PMID 34393924

Citations 1

Authors

Valeria Saladino

Hannah Lin

Elisa Zamparelli

Valeria Verrastro

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Empathy is a fundamental construct that allows individuals to perceive and understand the cognitive and emotional state of others. Empathy is not only a psychological and sociological concept; it also heavily impacts our daily lives by affecting our decisions and actions. Empathy is connected to and involves specific parts of the brain which, if damaged or of reduced volume, can lead to actions that are morally unjust, aggressive, or simply denoting a lack of understanding and sensitivity. The literature affirms that the low level of empathy, guilt, embarrassment, and moral reasoning displayed by violent and psychopathic criminals is strongly associated with empathy-linked brain regions that are smaller in size or less developed. The aim of this review is to show empirical data over the last 5 years on the connection between empathy and neuroscience among violent and psychopathic offenders, reflecting on future research on the topic.

Citing Articles

Can we rewire criminal mind via non-invasive brain stimulation of prefrontal cortex? Insights from clinical, forensic and social cognition studies.

Anselmo A, Lucifora C, Rusconi P, Martino G, Craparo G, Salehinejad M Curr Psychol. 2022; :1-11.

PMID: 35600259 PMC: 9107958. DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03210-y.

References

Warneken F, Tomasello M . The roots of human altruism. Br J Psychol. 2008; 100(Pt 3):455-71. DOI: 10.1348/000712608X379061. View

Gregory S, Ffytche D, Simmons A, Kumari V, Howard M, Hodgins S . The antisocial brain: psychopathy matters. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012; 69(9):962-72. DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.222. View

Preston S, de Waal F . Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behav Brain Sci. 2003; 25(1):1-20; discussion 20-71. DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x02000018. View

Hastings M, Tangney J, Stuewig J . Psychopathy and Identification of Facial Expressions of Emotion. Pers Individ Dif. 2011; 44(7):1474-1483. PMC: 3086821. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.01.004. View

Kiehl K, Smith A, Hare R, Mendrek A, Forster B, Brink J . Limbic abnormalities in affective processing by criminal psychopaths as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Biol Psychiatry. 2001; 50(9):677-84. DOI: 10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01222-7. View

Skeem J, Polaschek D, Patrick C, Lilienfeld S . Psychopathic Personality: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Evidence and Public Policy. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2015; 12(3):95-162. DOI: 10.1177/1529100611426706. View

Zarkovic Palijan T, Radeljak S, Kovac M, Kovacevic D . Relationship between comorbidity and violence risk assessment in forensic psychiatry - the implication of neuroimaging studies. Psychiatr Danub. 2010; 22(2):253-6. View

Zagni E, Simoni L, Colombo D . Sex and Gender Differences in Central Nervous System-Related Disorders. Neurosci J. 2016; 2016:2827090. PMC: 4904110. DOI: 10.1155/2016/2827090. View

Harmon-Jones E, Gable P, Peterson C . The role of asymmetric frontal cortical activity in emotion-related phenomena: a review and update. Biol Psychol. 2009; 84(3):451-62. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.08.010. View

10.

Spinella M . Neurobehavioral correlates of impulsivity: evidence of prefrontal involvement. Int J Neurosci. 2003; 114(1):95-104. DOI: 10.1080/00207450490249347. View

11.

Amodio D, Frith C . Meeting of minds: the medial frontal cortex and social cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006; 7(4):268-77. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1884. View

12.

Dolan M, Fullam R . Face affect recognition deficits in personality-disordered offenders: association with psychopathy. Psychol Med. 2006; 36(11):1563-9. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291706008634. View

13.

Zaki J, Weber J, Bolger N, Ochsner K . The neural bases of empathic accuracy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(27):11382-7. PMC: 2708723. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0902666106. View

14.

Aghajani M, Klapwijk E, van der Wee N, Veer I, Rombouts S, Boon A . Disorganized Amygdala Networks in Conduct-Disordered Juvenile Offenders With Callous-Unemotional Traits. Biol Psychiatry. 2016; 82(4):283-293. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.05.017. View

15.

Coccaro E, McCloskey M, Fitzgerald D, Phan K . Amygdala and orbitofrontal reactivity to social threat in individuals with impulsive aggression. Biol Psychiatry. 2007; 62(2):168-78. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.08.024. View

16.

Duerden E, Albanese M . Localization of pain-related brain activation: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging data. Hum Brain Mapp. 2011; 34(1):109-49. PMC: 6869965. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21416. View

17.

Intrator J, Hare R, Stritzke P, Brichtswein K, Dorfman D, Harpur T . A brain imaging (single photon emission computerized tomography) study of semantic and affective processing in psychopaths. Biol Psychiatry. 1997; 42(2):96-103. DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3223(96)00290-9. View

18.

Molenberghs P, Gapp J, Wang B, Louis W, Decety J . Increased Moral Sensitivity for Outgroup Perpetrators Harming Ingroup Members. Cereb Cortex. 2014; 26(1):225-33. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu195. View

19.

Hirschtritt M, Carroll J, Ross D . Using Neuroscience to Make Sense of Psychopathy. Biol Psychiatry. 2018; 84(9):e61-e63. PMC: 6698892. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.08.012. View

20.

Fan Y, Chen C, Chen S, Decety J, Cheng Y . Empathic arousal and social understanding in individuals with autism: evidence from fMRI and ERP measurements. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013; 9(8):1203-13. PMC: 4127026. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst101. View