![]() ![]() Should the neuroimaging effects be robust to replication, they remain silent on the question of suitability in making individual-level predictions. Initial support for this hypothesis has already been reported in a recent study implicating the ACC in treatment responsiveness among children with externalizing problems ( 21). One plausible hypothesis is that interventions that modulate ACC activity may help to increase cognitive control systems and thereby reduce future recidivism. Finally, this work highlights potential neuronal systems that could be targeted for treatment intervention. Moreover, this pattern supports the view that neurocognitive endophenotypes carry the potential to characterize underlying traits and defects independently of behavioral phenotypes, such as self-report instruments and expert-rater diagnoses based on client interviews and collateral historical information. In addition, these results support existing theories that paralimbic function subserves the relationship between cognitive control and antisocial behavior ( 20) and that the ACC in particular may facilitate inhibitory learning by feeding error-related information to inhibitory control centers ( 12). This pattern of results raises the possibility that brain activity in regions such as the ACC, elicited by a simple experimental task, may lend incremental utility to existing behavioral risk factors in the ability to predict rearrest. Moreover, engagement of the ACC during error conflicts in healthy adults has been shown to prospectively predict improvements in cognitive control ( 19). Indeed, ACC-damaged patients have been classed in the “acquired psychopathic personality” genre ( 18). In humans, cingulate damage has been shown to produce changes in disinhibition, apathy, and aggressiveness. Animal lesion studies have shown that focal damage to the anterior cingulate results in difficulty learning to regulate behavior ( 17). These motor areas then update behavioral plans and feed back to the basal ganglia and frontal cortex, facilitating learning ( 12). Neurobiological models suggest that the ACC is central to an error-monitoring circuit wherein it relays error information from the basal ganglia and inferior frontal cortex to motor areas. Consistent among these regions is the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a limbic region associated with error processing, conflict monitoring, response selection, and avoidance learning ( 12– 16). The brain regions associated with impulse control have been well characterized. These results raise the possibility that more direct measures of brain activity associated with impulse control may lend incremental utility to the prediction of future antisocial behavior. This stance has been supported by recent functional MRI (fMRI) studies that have, for instance, accurately predicted choices in a motor-decision task ( 6), substance abuse relapse ( 7– 10), and consumer purchases (i.e., neuromarketing) ( 11). Indeed, neuroscientists have suggested that endophenotypes carry the potential to characterize underlying traits and abnormalities independently of behavioral phenotypes ( 5). However, these latter measures serve only as proxies for direct measurement of the brain’s inhibitory and cognitive control systems. Risk assessments, personality tests, and neuropsychological measures have been used to assess impulsivity and have demonstrated the ability to predict future antisocial behavior. ![]() One of the strongest and most widely studied risk factors for recidivism is impulsivity, or behavioral disinhibition, the persistent lack of restraint and consideration of consequences ( 3).
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