| dc.description.abstract | The triarchic model describes psychopathy as comprised of three traits: boldness (low negative affect, sensation seeking), meanness (antagonism, poor attachment), and disinhibition (low emotional and behavioral constraint). Within the field of psychopathy, there are increasing calls to examine (1) the potentially configural nature of the disorder, (2) use experimental tasks to elucidate the nature of triarchic traits, and (3) incorporate psychophysiological measures into study design. Thus far, the small body of work that does partially address these issues is limited because studies often fail to investigate psychopathy alongside internalizing symptomatology that may share common neurobiological correlates (e.g., blunted reactivity in depression and psychopathy). To help address these gaps in the literature, the current study measured both psychophysiological (electroencephalography, electromyography) and subjective measures (valence, arousal) of affective reactivity while undergraduate participants completed a passive picture viewing task that included unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures. Participants were recruited along high and low levels of boldness and disinhibition (High Boldness/High Disinhibition; High Boldness/Low Disinhibition; High Disinhibition/Low Boldness) to examine potential differences in affective reactivity across configuration. Groups varied in affective reactivity only to an event-related potential (ERP) reflecting early affective reactivity (the P3), such that the High Boldness/High Disinhibition group displayed a larger P3 to pleasant pictures relative to the High Disinhibition/Low Boldness group. Groups did not differ in the late-positive potential, an ERP component reflecting elaborative processing of emotional stimuli, or startle eyeblink response. In addition to group results, regression analyses were conducted where measures of meanness and internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety) were entered as simultaneous predictors of both psychophysiological (P3, LPP, startle) and subjective (valence, arousal) measures of affective reactivity. Individuals higher in meanness rated unpleasant pictures as more pleasant and less arousing, whereas depression and anxiety were unrelated. In contrast, greater depression was associated with a smaller P3 to unpleasant pictures, whereas greater anxiety was associated with a larger P3 to unpleasant pictures. Meanness was a trending significant predictor of the P3 to unpleasant pictures. Results suggest modest support for differences in affective reactivity across configuration of triarchic traits. | en |
