Abstract
Objective To examine the relationships between antisocial personality disorder and executive abilities as well as antisocial personality disorder with other domains of cognitive functioning.
Background Previous research has suggested that antisocial personality disorder is associated with impaired executive functioning. However, methodological limitations of past research have resulted in inconsistent findings.
Methods Executive functioning and other cognitive abilities were compared in four demographically matched groups of middle-aged community dwelling male veterans (N = 336). The groups were: (A) those with active antisocial personality disorder psychopathology; (B) those with a lifetime prevalence of antisocial personality disorder but inactive antisocial personality disorder psychopathology; (C) a nonantisocial personality disorder psychiatrically matched control group; and (D) a normal control group.
Results Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the four groups were not statistically significantly different on measures of executive functioning or other cognitive abilities.
Conclusions Those with antisocial personality disorder perform at comparable levels to psychiatric and normal controls with respect to executive functioning and other domains of cognitive ability (i.e., language, memory, visuospatial, and motor abilities). An incidental finding was that, over time, the antisocial personality disorder groups improved more than control groups on a measure of general intellectual aptitude.
Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) such as impulsivity, poor planning, questionable judgment, and aggressive tendencies have raised the question of whether individuals with ASPD have impaired executive functioning abilities and frontal brain dysfunction. Previous research investigating this possibility has yielded inconsistent findings. Some studies have reported that antisocial adults, relative to comparison groups, demonstrate impaired performances on tasks of executive functioning1–4 that may be linked to structural brain abnormalities, particularly in the prefrontal region.5–6 However, other studies have not found statistically significant differences between ASPD and comparison groups on executive functioning measures7–10 or in neuroimaging findings associated with frontal lobe dysfunction.11 Still other studies have reported mixed findings.12,13
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between ASPD and cognitive functioning while carefully controlling demographic and psychiatric factors. In particular, the relationship between ASPD and executive problems was examined. Results indicated that individuals with ASPD do not perform more poorly than either psychiatric or normal controls on measures of executive functioning or other cognitive abilities (i.e., language, memory, visuospatial and motor abilities).
