Perception of facial expressions of fear: comparative research with criminal and non-criminal psychopaths

Abstract

A group of criminal psychopaths (n = 22) was compared against three control groups non-criminal psychopaths (n = 16), criminal non-psychopaths (n = 11), and non-criminal non-psychopaths (n = 13) - on a go/no-go paradigm to test whether criminal psychopaths' poor ability to recognise facial expressions of fear can be generalised to non-criminal psychopaths and to other non-psychopathic criminals. Both criminal and non-criminal psychopaths showed significantly worse performance than non-psychopaths in the detection and discrimination of fear in facial expressions. These results suggest that psychopathy, independently of its manifestation in criminal behaviour, seems to be related to poor ability to identify and discriminate facial expressions of fear. Additionally, inhibition deficits or, at least, an impulsivity response pattern seem to be common to all criminal groups that were investigated.