Glenn-Raine Neuroimaging Findings
Definition
Meta-analytic findings (NeuroImage 2011) of bilateral amygdala volume reduction, reduced vmPFC activity, and abnormal uncinate fasciculus integrity in high-PCL-R individuals, supporting a paralimbic dysfunction model.
- Publication
- Structural and functional MRI studies by Raine and colleagues
- Key finding
- Bilateral amygdala volume reduction in high-PCL-R individuals
- Also found
- Reduced vmPFC activity, abnormal uncinate fasciculus integrity
- Model supported
- Paralimbic dysfunction model of psychopathy
Common questions
What is the paralimbic dysfunction model these findings support?+
It proposes that psychopathy arises from coordinated dysfunction across a network of limbic and paralimbic structures, including the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex plus the white-matter tracts connecting them, rather than damage to a single brain region.
Do these neuroimaging findings prove psychopathy is caused by brain abnormality?+
No, the findings are correlational: they show group-level structural and functional differences associated with high PCL-R scores, not that the abnormality causes the traits, and courts have generally been cautious about treating such evidence as determinative.
Why does the uncinate fasciculus matter in this model?+
It is the white-matter tract connecting the amygdala to the orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, so reduced integrity there is interpreted as impaired communication between emotion-processing and decision-making regions implicated in psychopathic traits.
Related terms
- Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
- DSM-5 / ICD-11 disorder defined primarily by behavioural history with conduct disorder before 15 as a prerequisite. Found in 50-80% of male...
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- Cleckley's Sixteen Criteria
- Hervey Cleckley's phenomenological description of the psychopathic personality (The Mask of Sanity, 1941, 5 editions through 1976), covering interpersonal charm, affective poverty,...
- Factor 1 (Interpersonal-Affective)
- The PCL-R facets covering charm, grandiosity, lying, manipulation, lack of remorse, shallow affect, and callousness. The affective core of the construct; most...
- PCL:SV and PCL:YV
- Derived instruments: the 12-item Screening Version (Hart, Cox and Hare 1995) for research/screening contexts; the Youth Version (Forth, Kosson and Hare 2003)...
- Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
- A 20-item semi-structured interview plus file-review instrument by Robert Hare, scored 0-40. Research threshold for psychopathy designation is 30 or above in...