Resting-state functional connectivity and socioemotional processes in male perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women

Abstract

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a serious and overwhelming public concern. Neuroimaging techniques have provided insights into the brain mechanisms underlying IPVAW perpetration. The purpose of this study is to examine the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) involving the process of social decision-making of male perpetrators. Twenty-six male perpetrators convicted for an IPVAW crime were compared to 29 men convicted for crimes other than IPVAW (other offenders) and 29 men with no criminal records (non-offenders) using a seed-based approach. Seeds were located in areas involved in reflective (prefrontal), impulsive (amygdala and striatum) and interoceptive (insula) processing. Then, as an exploratory analysis, the connectivity networks on male perpetrators were correlated with measures of executive functions and socioemotional self-report measures. Male perpetrators in comparison to other offenders and non-offenders, presented higher rsFC between prefrontal, limbic, brainstem, temporal and basal ganglia areas. Also male perpetrators showed higher rsFC between insula, default mode network and basal ganglia, while lower rsFC was found between prefrontal and motor areas and between amygdala, occipital and parietal areas. Exploratory correlations suggest that the specific rsFC in male perpetrators might be more related to socioemotional processes than to executive functions. These results showed that male perpetrators present a specific rsFC in brain systems that are essential for an adaptive social decision-making.

Figure 1

Significant group differences in seed-based analysis. Each brain image represents the correlations with the seed written below. MPG male perpetrators group, OOG other offenders group, NOG non-offenders group. (A) MPG demonstrated higher functional connectivity than NOG between rBLA (right basolateral amygdala) and temporal pole, between lVLPFC (left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) and brainstem, middle temporal area and bilateral hippocampus, between lDLPFC (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and putamen-caudate, between rPI (right posterior insula) and putamen and finally between lPI (left posterior insula) and bilateral angular gyrus and middle temporal area. (B) MPG demonstrated lower functional connectivity than NOG between rCMA (right centromedial amygdala), intraparietal, fusiform gyrus, and occipital area, and between rVLPFC (right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) and sensorimotor, premotor, intraparietal and occipital areas. (C) MPG showed higher functional connectivity in comparison to OOG between lBLA (left basolateral amygdala) and visual-cuneus, between lVLPFC (left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) and brainstem, insular cortex and bilateral thalamus, between rDLPFC (right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and sensorimotor, between lDLPFC (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and middle temporal gyrus, between rPI (right posterior insula) and fusiform gyrus and Heschl Gyrus, and finally between lPI (left posterior insula) and angular gyrus, middle temporal, putamen, dorsolateral cortex, cerebellum and inferior frontal area.