ReviewPsychiatry research2019
The neuromoral theory of antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behavior.
Review in Psychiatry research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation in forensic populations: scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Exploring the neural correlates of (altered) moral cognition in psychopaths.Behavioral sciences & the law · 2021Pooled it
- Is the Psychopathic Brain an Artifact of Coding Bias? A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Neurobiological Determinism versus Human Freedom: Competing Explanatory Models and the Hope for Moral Enhancement.The Journal of medicine and philosophy · 2026Article
- Psychopathological profiles in offenders with antisocial personality disorder: a comparison of violent and sexual crimes.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Article
- Associations of brain structure with psychopathy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Brain Activation Features in Response to the Expectation of Receiving Rewards Through Aggression.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Shared genetics and causal relationship between sociability and the brain's default mode network.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Does Executive Functioning Moderate the Association Between Psychopathic Traits and Antisocial Behavior in Youth?Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- Neuroanatomical correlates of aggressiveness: a case-control voxel- and surface-based morphometric study.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Intrinsic neural network dynamics underlying the ability to down-regulate emotions in male perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women.Brain structure & function · 2023Article
- Article
- The Effect of Multi-Session Prefrontal Cortical Stimulation on Aggression: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group Trial.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Neurobiology of Aggression-Review of Recent Findings and Relationship with Alcohol and Trauma.Biology · 2023Review
- Sex dimorphic cortical brain volumes associated with antisocial behavior in young adults.Psychoradiology · 2023Article
- Resting-state functional connectivity and socioemotional processes in male perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Modelling sexual violence in male rats: the sexual aggression test (SxAT).Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Cerebellum and Emotion in Morality.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2022Article
- Dysfunctional personality, Dark Triad and moral disengagement in incarcerated offenders: implications for recidivism and violence.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2022Article
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1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The neuromoral theory of antisocial behaviors argues that impairment to the neural circuitry underlying morality provides a common foundation for antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behavior in children, adolescents, and adults. This article reviews new findings in two research fields since this theory was first proposed: brain mechanisms underlying moral decision-making, and brain systems subserving antisocial behaviors. The neuromoral theory is updated to take into account new empirical findings. Key areas implicated in both moral decision-making and the spectrum of antisocial behaviors include fronto-polar, medial, and ventral prefrontal cortical regions, and the anterior cingulate, amygdala, superior temporal gyrus, and angular gyrus / temporoparietal junction. It is hypothesized that different manifestations of antisocial behavior are characterized by differing degrees of neuromoral dysfunction, with primary psychopathy, proactive aggression, and life-course persistent offending being more affected, and secondary psychopathy, reactive aggression, and crimes involving drugs relatively less affected by neuromoral dysfunction. Limitations of the current model, social contextual factors, neural remediation interventions, ascertaining whether the affective or cognitive component of empathy is most implicated, and directions for future research are outlined. One forensic implication of the model is that significant impairment to the neuromoral circuit could constitute diminished criminal responsibility.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.