Reduced efficiency in recognising fear in subjects scoring high on psychopathic personality characteristics

The accuracy of perception of emotional faces was studied in individuals scoring low and high on psychopathic personality characteristics. Since psychopathy is characterised by a lack of fear, impaired recognition of fearful facial expression was expected in individuals with high psychopathic personality characteristics. 525 Healthy students completed the Behavioural Inhibition Scale and the Behavioural Activation Scale (BIS/BAS). 16 Subjects scoring high on psychopathic personality characteristics (weak BIS/strong BAS) and 16 subjects scoring low on psychopathic personality characteristics (strong BIS/weak BAS) were selected. A morphing task was used to measure the accuracy of facial emotional perception. As hypothesised, the group scoring high on psychopathic personality characteristics was less accurate in the recognition of fearful faces compared to the group scoring low on psychopathic personality characteristics. These findings suggest that low fear responsivity commonly observed in psychopathy is associated with a fear recognition deficit. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.