The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces

Pascal-M Aggensteiner¹, Nathalie E Holz¹, Boris W Böttinger¹, Sarah Baumeister¹, Sarah Hohmann¹, Julia E Werhahn^{2

3}, Jilly Naaijen^{4

5}, Shahrzad Ilbegi⁴, Jeffrey C Glennon⁴, Pieter J Hoekstra⁶, Andrea Dietrich⁶, Renee Kleine Deters⁶, Melanie C Saam⁷, Ulrike M E Schulze⁷, David J Lythgoe⁸, Arjun Sethi⁸, Michael C Craig⁸, Mathilde Mastroianni⁹, Ilyas Sagar-Ouriaghli⁹, Paramala J Santosh⁹, Mireia Rosa¹⁰, Nuria Bargallo¹⁰, Josefina Castro-Fornieles¹¹, Celso Arango¹², Maria J Penzol¹², Jorge Vidal¹², Barbara Franke^{13

14}, Marcel P Zwiers⁵, Jan K Buitelaar^{4

15}, Susanne Walitza^{2

3}, Tobias Banaschewski¹, Daniel Brandeis^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁵ Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Ulm, Germany.
⁸ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁹ Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Clinic Image Diagnostic Center (CDIC), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona; Magnetic Resonance Image Core Facility, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Department, 2017SGR881, Institute Clinic of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, CIBERSAM, IDIBAPS, Department of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
¹³ Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 32624021
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720002111

The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces

Pascal-M Aggensteiner et al. Psychol Med. 2022 Feb.

. 2022 Feb;52(3):476-484.

doi: 10.1017/S0033291720002111. Epub 2020 Jul 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Neuroscience Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁵ Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Ulm, Germany.
⁸ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁹ Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Clinic Image Diagnostic Center (CDIC), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona; Magnetic Resonance Image Core Facility, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Department, 2017SGR881, Institute Clinic of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, CIBERSAM, IDIBAPS, Department of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
¹³ Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 32624021
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720002111

Erratum in

The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces - ERRATUM.
Aggensteiner PM, Holz NE, Böttinger BW, Baumeister S, Hohmann S, Werhahn JE, Naaijen J, Ilbegi S, Glennon JC, Hoekstra PJ, Dietrich A, Deters RK, Saam MC, Schulze UME, Lythgoe DJ, Sethi A, Craig MC, Mastroianni M, Sagar-Ouriaghli I, Santosh PJ, Rosa M, Bargallo N, Castro-Fornieles J, Arango C, Penzol MJ, Vidal J, Franke B, Zwiers MP, Buitelaar JK, Walitza S, Banaschewski T, Brandeis D. Aggensteiner PM, et al. Psychol Med. 2023 Jan;53(1):304. doi: 10.1017/S0033291720003049. Epub 2020 Aug 28. Psychol Med. 2023. PMID: 32854789 No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: Brain imaging studies have shown altered amygdala activity during emotion processing in children and adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) compared to typically developing children and adolescents (TD). Here we aimed to assess whether aggression-related subtypes (reactive and proactive aggression) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits predicted variation in amygdala activity and skin conductance (SC) response during emotion processing.

Methods: We included 177 participants (n = 108 cases with disruptive behaviour and/or ODD/CD and n = 69 TD), aged 8-18 years, across nine sites in Europe, as part of the EU Aggressotype and MATRICS projects. All participants performed an emotional face-matching functional magnetic resonance imaging task.

Results: Differences between cases and TD in affective processing, as well as specificity of activation patterns for aggression subtypes and CU traits, were assessed. Simultaneous SC recordings were acquired in a subsample (n = 63). Cases compared to TDs showed higher amygdala activity in response to negative faces (fearful and angry) v. shapes. Subtyping cases according to aggression-related subtypes did not significantly influence on amygdala activity; while stratification based on CU traits was more sensitive and revealed decreased amygdala activity in the high CU group. SC responses were significantly lower in cases and negatively correlated with CU traits, reactive and proactive aggression.

Conclusions: Our results showed differences in amygdala activity and SC responses to emotional faces between cases with ODD/CD and TD, while CU traits moderate both central (amygdala) and peripheral (SC) responses. Our insights regarding subtypes and trait-specific aggression could be used for improved diagnostics and personalized treatment.

Keywords: Aggression; CU traits; conduct disorder; neuroimaging; oppositional defiant disorder; subtypes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Actions

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

Grants and funding

MR/M013588/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Cambridge University Press
- Ovid Technologies, Inc.

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces

Affiliations

The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources