ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2018
Reduced engagement of the anterior cingulate cortex in the dishonest decision-making of incarcerated psychopaths.
Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Using physiological biomarkers in forensic psychiatry: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Psychopathy and medial frontal cortex: A systematic review reveals predominantly null relationships.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Functional neural correlates of psychopathy: a meta-analysis of MRI data.Translational psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Social connectedness mediates the effect of awe in reducing dishonest behavior.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- To lie or to tell the truth? The influence of processing the opponent's feedback on the forthcoming choice.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Efficiency of Heterogenous Functional Connectomes Explains Variance in Callous-Unemotional Traits After Computational Lesioning of Cortical Midline and Salience Regions.Brain connectivity · 2023Article
- Neural responses underlying extraordinary altruists' generosity for socially distant others.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
- Reputation risk during dishonest social decision-making modulates anterior insular and cingulate cortex activity and connectivity.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Fluid Intelligence Moderates the Link Between Psychopathy and Aggression Differently for Men and Women.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2022Article
- Altered Brain Connectivity Patterns of Individual Differences in Insightful Problem Solving.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Overriding a moral default for honesty or dishonesty.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Recent neuro-imaging findings with respect to conduct disorder, callous-unemotional traits and psychopathy.Current opinion in psychiatry · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A large body of research indicates that psychopathic individuals lie chronically and show little remorse or anxiety. Yet, little is known about the neurobiological substrates of dishonesty in psychopathy. In a sample of incarcerated individuals (n = 67), we tested the hypothesis that psychopathic individuals show reduced activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) when confronted with an opportunity for dishonest gain, reflecting dishonest behavior that is relatively unhindered by response conflict. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, incarcerated offenders with different levels of psychopathy performed an incentivized prediction task wherein they were given real and repeated opportunities for dishonest gain. We found that while incarcerated offenders showed a high rate of cheating, levels of psychopathic traits did not influence the frequency of dishonesty. Higher psychopathy scores predicted decreased activity in the ACC during dishonest decision-making. Further analysis revealed that the ACC was functionally connected to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and that ACC activity mediated the relationship between psychopathic traits and reduced reaction times for dishonest behavior. These findings suggest that psychopathic individuals behave dishonestly with relatively low levels of response conflict and that the ACC may play a critical role in this pattern of behavior.
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