Interhemispheric integration in psychopathic offenders.

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to determine whether a reduced capacity for interhemispheric integration can explain the attention deficits seen in psychopathic individuals under conditions that place substantial demands on left-hemisphere-specific resources. The present study examined the performance of 54 incarcerated psychopathic and nonpsychopathic male offenders on a same-different global-local paradigm that permits manipulation of both the magnitude of processing demands and the demand for interhemispheric coordination. Prior studies with similar paradigms have demonstrated that the cerebral hemispheres can function more efficiently as relatively independent processors on simple tasks, whereas communication between the hemispheres improves performance when processing demands are heavy. Analyses indicated that psychopathic offenders are not deficient in interhemispheric integration but provided additional evidence consistent with the left hemisphere activation hypothesis of psychopathy.