by
Joshua W. Buckholtz;
Michael T. Treadway;
Ronald L. Cowan;
Neil D. Woodward;
Stephen D. Benning;
Rui Li;
M. Sib Ansari;
Ronald M. Baldwin;
Ashley N. Schwartzman;
Evans S. Shelby;
Clarence E. Smith;
David Cole;
Robert M. Kessler;
David H. Zald
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that is strongly linked to criminal behavior. Using [18 F]fallypride positron emission tomography and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that impulsive-antisocial psychopathic traits selectively predicted nucleus accumbens dopamine release and reward anticipation-related neural activity in response to pharmacological and monetary reinforcers, respectively. These findings suggest that neurochemical and neurophysiological hyper-reactivity of the dopaminergic reward system may comprise a neural substrate for impulsive-antisocial behavior and substance abuse in psychopathy.