FEAR AND LOATHING IN PSYCHOPATHS: A META-ANALYTIC INVESTIGATION OF THE FACIAL AFFECT RECOGNITION DEFICIT

Several studies have identified an association between psychopathy and deficits in facial affect recognition. Although this finding is widely seen as providing strong evidence for amygdala dysfunction in psychopaths, this interpretation is challenged by studies finding no recognition impairments. An alternative hypothesis predicts that recognition deficits are dynamic and are influenced by verbal processing demands. These competing hypotheses were tested via a meta-analysis of 22 investigations of psychopathy (N = 1,387 participants) using the facial affect recognition paradigm. Results indicated that studies entailing a verbal response style found larger recognition deficits for emotions processed by the left amygdala. The findings of this review offer an alternative to currently popular theories of psychopathy and suggest that future research should consider response style when investigating facial affect recognition deficits in this population.