- Email: [email protected]
S.22.04 Brain-regulation learning in criminal psychopaths
S144
S.23. Simultaneous MR−PET brain imaging for neuropharmacological assessment
controls from the same cohort. Furthermore, regression analyses were performed in the total sample (n = 76) to investigate the relation of these measures with psychopathic traits. Results: Preliminary results suggest that, during fear conditioning, both persistent and desistent DBD subgroups show higher differential activation in fear-related brain areas, compared to healthy controls. In addition, impulsive-irresponsible and grandiose-manipulative psychopathic traits are associated with higher activation, whereas callous-unemotional psychopathic traits are related to lower activation in fear-related areas. MID task results will be discussed during the talk. Conclusion: These preliminary results provide evidence for heterogeneity in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychopathic traits and antisocial behavior and, as such, underscore the need to develop personalized interventions. S.22.04 Brain-regulation learning in criminal psychopaths L. Konicar1 ° , R. Veit1 , U. Strehl1 , N. Birbaumer1 1 Eberhard Karls University, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, T¨ubingen, Germany Psychopathy is a personality disorder, characterized by impaired affective processing (such as lack of empathy or cold-heartedness), impulsivity, sensation-seeking, aggressiveness and lack of behavioral control. Brain imaging studies with criminal psychopaths show structural and functional deficits in paralimbic and frontal areas associated with anticipatory planning, emotion regulation, empathy and behavioral inhibition and control [1]. Additionally psychophysiological findings reveal differences in event related potentials as well as in electrodermal reactivity [2]. Based on studies using feedback of slow cortical potentials (SCP-Feedback) in children with Attention Deficit-/Hyperactivity Disorder [3], we hypothesize that also psychopathic patients can gain volitional control of their brain activity and may profit from learned prefrontal control. 14 adult psychopathic patients from forensic psychiatry (Psychopathy-Checklist Score: mean= 29.64) with a long history of violent and/or sexual offences performed a SCPFeedbacktraining with 26 sessions. During the SCP-Training patients learn to increase and to decrease (inhibit) cortical excitability. Successful learning, as defined by producing consequently negative/positive shifts in the required direction, could be observed. A differentiation of SCP changes between trials requiring cortical negativity versus positivity increased across sessions. Psychophysiological and questionnaire pre/post-data reveal improvements in several psychopathy-related deficits, such as impulsivity, aggressiveness or behavioral inhibition. The present study demonstrates that criminal psychopaths are able to regulate their brain activity volitionally, which induces normalized physiological and behavioral characteristics. Thus, brain-regulation training could be a novel biologically-based treatment for psychopathic offenders. References [1] Raine, A., & Yang, Y., 2006. The neuroanatomical bases of psychopathy. A review of brain imaging findings. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.). Handbook of psychopathy, 278–295. New York: Guilford Press. [2] Birbaumer, N., Veit, R., Lotze, M., Erb, M., Hermann, C., Grodd, W. & Flor, H., 2005. Deficient Fear Conditioning in Psychopathy. A
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 62, 799–805. [3] Strehl, U., Leins, U., Goth, G., Klinger, C., Hinterberger, T. & Birbaumer, N., 2006. Self-Regulation of Slow Cortical Potentials. A New Treatment for Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Pediatrics, 118, 5, e1530–1540.
S.23. Simultaneous MR−PET brain imaging for neuropharmacological assessment S.23.01 Current status of simultaneous MR−PET: an opportunity for neuropharmacological studies T. Beyer1 °
1 Medical
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Image-based diagnosis and therapy response assessment has become an essential part of state-of-the-art patient management. While traditionally, single-modality imaging has been used in the past, hybrid, or combined imaging modalities have entered the diagnostic market in the late 1990’s and changed approaches to diagnostic and follow-up management significantly. Combined SPECT/CT and PET/CT were both introduced in early 2000 and since then gained widespread use in the clinical and, to a somewhat lesser degree, in the pre-clinical community. Recently, combined PET/MRI has been introduced for clinical use. PET/MR systems are proposed as triple-modality PET/CT+MR, co-planar PET/MR and fully-integrated PET/MR. The latter has the intrinsic capability of acquiring PET and MRI data simultaneously. While simultaneous acquisitions are not yet proven to outperform clinically sequential acquisitions using combined hardware systems, they do offer a number of advantages for research applications, specifically in neurology and neuropharmacology. These include, but may not be limited to, MR-based motion correction of the head during the emission acquisition for higher contrast images and MR-based image reconstruction and partial volume correction for accurate PET quantification. In addition, simultaneous acquisitions can help assess and cross-validate imaging and quantification of dynamic processes (blood flow) and response to neurological stimuli. Simultaneous PET/MRI was proposed as a prototype design specifically for the brain in 2006, but only a handful of these systems were available for testing. As of 2010 only whole-body PET/MRI systems are being shipped. If applications of PET/MRI in neurology prove worthy of this specific imaging modality then design concepts for organ-specific imaging should be revisited. Disclosure statement: Thomas Beyer is founder of cmi-experts GmbH, a Switzerland based imaging service and consulting company.
S.23.02 Imaging of the opioid and dopamine system B. Rosen1 °
1 Hahnemann
Medical College, Charlestown, USA
Neuroreceptor targeted PET displacement studies have provided important insights into a variety of neurotransmitter systems. However, beyond the technical challenges, PET studies alone have potential limitations. First, assumptions about the stability of the underlying physiological state during the course of the measurement need to be made. Second, downstream and parallel network effects of changing receptor occupancy are not readily measured
S.23. Simultaneous MR−PET brain imaging for neuropharmacological assessment
controls from the same cohort. Furthermore, regression analyses were performed in the total sample (n = 76) to investigate the relation of these measures with psychopathic traits. Results: Preliminary results suggest that, during fear conditioning, both persistent and desistent DBD subgroups show higher differential activation in fear-related brain areas, compared to healthy controls. In addition, impulsive-irresponsible and grandiose-manipulative psychopathic traits are associated with higher activation, whereas callous-unemotional psychopathic traits are related to lower activation in fear-related areas. MID task results will be discussed during the talk. Conclusion: These preliminary results provide evidence for heterogeneity in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychopathic traits and antisocial behavior and, as such, underscore the need to develop personalized interventions. S.22.04 Brain-regulation learning in criminal psychopaths L. Konicar1 ° , R. Veit1 , U. Strehl1 , N. Birbaumer1 1 Eberhard Karls University, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, T¨ubingen, Germany Psychopathy is a personality disorder, characterized by impaired affective processing (such as lack of empathy or cold-heartedness), impulsivity, sensation-seeking, aggressiveness and lack of behavioral control. Brain imaging studies with criminal psychopaths show structural and functional deficits in paralimbic and frontal areas associated with anticipatory planning, emotion regulation, empathy and behavioral inhibition and control [1]. Additionally psychophysiological findings reveal differences in event related potentials as well as in electrodermal reactivity [2]. Based on studies using feedback of slow cortical potentials (SCP-Feedback) in children with Attention Deficit-/Hyperactivity Disorder [3], we hypothesize that also psychopathic patients can gain volitional control of their brain activity and may profit from learned prefrontal control. 14 adult psychopathic patients from forensic psychiatry (Psychopathy-Checklist Score: mean= 29.64) with a long history of violent and/or sexual offences performed a SCPFeedbacktraining with 26 sessions. During the SCP-Training patients learn to increase and to decrease (inhibit) cortical excitability. Successful learning, as defined by producing consequently negative/positive shifts in the required direction, could be observed. A differentiation of SCP changes between trials requiring cortical negativity versus positivity increased across sessions. Psychophysiological and questionnaire pre/post-data reveal improvements in several psychopathy-related deficits, such as impulsivity, aggressiveness or behavioral inhibition. The present study demonstrates that criminal psychopaths are able to regulate their brain activity volitionally, which induces normalized physiological and behavioral characteristics. Thus, brain-regulation training could be a novel biologically-based treatment for psychopathic offenders. References [1] Raine, A., & Yang, Y., 2006. The neuroanatomical bases of psychopathy. A review of brain imaging findings. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.). Handbook of psychopathy, 278–295. New York: Guilford Press. [2] Birbaumer, N., Veit, R., Lotze, M., Erb, M., Hermann, C., Grodd, W. & Flor, H., 2005. Deficient Fear Conditioning in Psychopathy. A
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 62, 799–805. [3] Strehl, U., Leins, U., Goth, G., Klinger, C., Hinterberger, T. & Birbaumer, N., 2006. Self-Regulation of Slow Cortical Potentials. A New Treatment for Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Pediatrics, 118, 5, e1530–1540.
S.23. Simultaneous MR−PET brain imaging for neuropharmacological assessment S.23.01 Current status of simultaneous MR−PET: an opportunity for neuropharmacological studies T. Beyer1 °
1 Medical
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Image-based diagnosis and therapy response assessment has become an essential part of state-of-the-art patient management. While traditionally, single-modality imaging has been used in the past, hybrid, or combined imaging modalities have entered the diagnostic market in the late 1990’s and changed approaches to diagnostic and follow-up management significantly. Combined SPECT/CT and PET/CT were both introduced in early 2000 and since then gained widespread use in the clinical and, to a somewhat lesser degree, in the pre-clinical community. Recently, combined PET/MRI has been introduced for clinical use. PET/MR systems are proposed as triple-modality PET/CT+MR, co-planar PET/MR and fully-integrated PET/MR. The latter has the intrinsic capability of acquiring PET and MRI data simultaneously. While simultaneous acquisitions are not yet proven to outperform clinically sequential acquisitions using combined hardware systems, they do offer a number of advantages for research applications, specifically in neurology and neuropharmacology. These include, but may not be limited to, MR-based motion correction of the head during the emission acquisition for higher contrast images and MR-based image reconstruction and partial volume correction for accurate PET quantification. In addition, simultaneous acquisitions can help assess and cross-validate imaging and quantification of dynamic processes (blood flow) and response to neurological stimuli. Simultaneous PET/MRI was proposed as a prototype design specifically for the brain in 2006, but only a handful of these systems were available for testing. As of 2010 only whole-body PET/MRI systems are being shipped. If applications of PET/MRI in neurology prove worthy of this specific imaging modality then design concepts for organ-specific imaging should be revisited. Disclosure statement: Thomas Beyer is founder of cmi-experts GmbH, a Switzerland based imaging service and consulting company.
S.23.02 Imaging of the opioid and dopamine system B. Rosen1 °
1 Hahnemann
Medical College, Charlestown, USA
Neuroreceptor targeted PET displacement studies have provided important insights into a variety of neurotransmitter systems. However, beyond the technical challenges, PET studies alone have potential limitations. First, assumptions about the stability of the underlying physiological state during the course of the measurement need to be made. Second, downstream and parallel network effects of changing receptor occupancy are not readily measured