The effects of reward and punishment on response inhibition in non-clinical psychopathy

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Response inhibition is an important control mechanism in reacting effectively to sudden changes in the environment and a deficit in this mechanism is thought to be a main feature of various impulse control disorders including psychopathy This study investigated the effects of reward and punishment on the inhibitory capabilities of non-clinical participants with both high and low levels of psychopathy Forty participants performed a stop-signal task under three conditions in a mixed factorial design a no reward or punishment (N) condition a low magnitude reward and punishment (L) condition and a high magnitude reward and punishment (H) condition Participants with low psychopathy were more inhibited during both reward and punishment conditions as compared to the no reward/punishment condition On the other hand participants with high psychopathy showed increased response inhibition only during the L condition The presence of reward and/or punishment regardless of magnitude increases response inhibition in participants with low psychopathy whereas high levels of reward and/or punishment do not affect response inhibition in high psychopathy participants These results suggest that a deficit in response inhibition under incentive conditions could constitute a dimensional feature or aspect of clinical and non-clinical psychopathy.