Preattentive Amygdala Activity in Callous and Unemotional Children

Response to masked fear differentiates conduct-disordered children with high versus low callous-unemotional traits.

In children with callous-unemotional traits (CUT; shallow affect plus lack of empathy or guilt), researchers previously found amygdala hypoactivity on an explicit emotion-based task (JW Psychiatry Nov 17 2008). The same research group has now examined amygdala response to preattentive stimuli. The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a backward masking paradigm: A brief, 17-ms target stimulus of a fearful or calm face is followed by a 183-ms stimulus of a calm face, which masks the briefer stimulus.

The 46 participants, boys (age range, 10–16) matched for demographics and handedness, had conduct disorder (CD) with high CUT, CD with low CUT, or no CD. Analyses controlled for comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder an…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose