Psychopathy and Selective Attention During Performance of a Complex Perceptual‐Motor Task

Abstract

ABSTRACT Autonomic and electrocortical activity were recorded while prison inmates with high (H) and low (L) ratings of psychopathy were presented with a series of binaural tone pips, either by themselves (passive attention) or while video games were being played (selective attention). During selective attention the subjects were told that the tone pips were irrelevant to the primary task, the video games. The N100 component of the auditory evoked potential was used as an index of attention paid to the tone pips, while performance on the video games was considered to be a reflection of attentiveness to the primary task. There were no group differences in N100 amplitude or latency during passive attention, supporting the results from several previous studies. During selective attention Group H gave small N100 responses to the tone pips during each video game trial, including the first one, while Group L gave large N100 responses to the tone pips during the first trial, and small responses during later trials. Both groups performed equally well during the first few trials, but while the performance of Group L continued to improve, that of Group H deteriorated over the last few trials. The results were interpreted in terms of limited capacity models of attention, and provided some support for the hypothesis that psychopaths allocate a relatively large proportion of their attentional resources to things of immediate interest, effectively ignoring other stimuli.