Participants and assessment
Between September 2017 and March 2020, we enrolled 58 men, aged 20 to 58 years, with an IQ greater than 70 as defined by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI-II) [34]. Offenders with convictions for violent crimes (murder, rape, attempted murder, grievous and actual bodily harm) who met DSM-5 criteria for antisocial personality disorder (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Personality Disorders (SCID-5 PD; [35]) were recruited via the National Probation Service of England and Wales and local forensic personality disorder services. Healthy non-offenders were recruited from the general population using online adverts and fliers in job centres and local recreational centres. All participants completed diagnostic (SCID-5) and Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R; [36]) interviews and authorised access to their criminal records. A cross-cultural validation study [37] of the PCL-R demonstrated that cut off scores for psychopathy in men vary between North America (30 out of a possible 40 points) and Europe (25 out of a possible 40 points). In line with previous research in UK samples [8,9], we used a score of 25 as the threshold for psychopathy in this English population. We calculated total, factor 1 and factor 2 PCL-R scores for all participants. Factor 1 scores are a total of facet 1 (interpersonal traits, such as pathological lying) plus facet 2 traits (affective traits, such as lack of empathy), while factor 2 scores are a total of facet 3 (antisocial lifestyle traits, such as impulsivity) plus facet 4 traits (overt antisocial behaviors, such as criminal versatility). Exclusion criteria were: history of major mental disorders (bipolar 1, bipolar 2, major depression or psychotic disorders) or self-reported neurological disorders, head injury resulting in loss of consciousness for 1 hour or longer, severe visual or hearing impairments, or contraindications to MRI.
After receiving a complete description of the study, all participants provided written consent. Ethical approval was obtained from the national UK research authority (National Health Service Health Research Authority Research and Ethics Committee, project number 15/LO/1083). All assessments were conducted by an experienced forensic psychiatrist (JT). Participants completed the reactive-proactive aggression questionnaire [38]. On the day of each MRI scan, participants provided a urine sample to assess for substance misuse. Following psychometric assessments, only participants who attended for two MRI sessions were included in the analyses.
The three groups did not differ significantly except for years of education and PCL-R total and facet scores (Table 1). The offenders with antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy had significantly higher proactive, reactive and total aggression scores than those without psychopathy. The offenders with antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy also had a significantly higher rate of comorbid Cluster A personality disorder diagnosis compared to healthy non-offenders. Offender groups (with and without psychopathy) had a significantly higher rate of comorbid Cluster B personality disorder diagnosis compared to healthy non-offenders. Both offender groups also had a significantly higher rate of lifetime substance misuse disorders than healthy non-offenders, however the proportion of offenders with and without psychopathy with lifetime substance use disorders did not differ. Urinary drug screening on the day of scanning revealed some significant differences in active illicit substance misuse (see Supplementary Table S1), therefore this was included as a covariate in fMRI analysis.
Study Design and Procedures
In a double-blind, placebo controlled, randomised crossover design, participants self-administered, under instruction from the researcher, 40 IU of IN-OT (Syntocinon; Novartis, Basel, Switzerland) or placebo (identical composition to Syntocinon except for the omission of oxytocin). Participants began the morphed faces task within 25-30 minutes of administration. The oxytocin dose employed was the highest clinically applicable safe dose administered to human volunteers, in keeping with a protocol which demonstrated significant neural activation over a period of 25–78 minutes with this dose [39]. Further discussion about the dose and timing of intranasal oxytocin, and mechanism for delivery to the brain, is included in Supplementary Materials (S1).
At a second session (occurring between three and twenty-eight days later), participants completed the fMRI task again under the alternative treatment condition. Participants were instructed to avoid food, drinks (except water), and nicotine two hours before starting the experiment. Participants completed the Morphed Faces task (see Figure 1). During the task, participants were asked to indicate the sex of each face with a left-right button press using the index and middle finger of their right hand during a single run, which lasted 9 minutes 56 seconds. Full description of the Morphed Faces task, together with information on data quality control and motion parameters, is available in Supplementary Materials (S2).
General linear model analysis of behavioural data
For the Morphed Faces task, means were first calculated across the whole sample for both accuracy and reaction time in rating the gender of the faces displayed. To investigate the effect of oxytocin and its interaction with other variables, for both accuracy and response latency data, a three group (NO, ASPD-P, ASPD+P) by two condition (oxytocin, placebo) by four intensity (40%, 60%, 80%, 100% of fearful facial expression) repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted. Post-hoc repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed for ASPD-P vs ASPD+P. SPSS version 25.0 was used. A threshold for significance of p <0.05 was set for all tests.
Primary outcome measure and MRI processing
Whole-brain blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI data were acquired using a 3.0 Tesla General Electric Magnetic Resonance Scanner. The principle outcome measure was a regressor for modulation of neural activity (BOLD responsivity) by intensity of fearful expression. Specific MRI parameters, and full details of preprocessing and individual level analyses and data quality control are available in supplementary materials (S3 and S4).
MRI Data group analysis
Following preprocessing steps, modulated emotion data were entered into a 3 Group (NO, ASPD-P, ASPD+P) by 2 Condition (placebo, oxytocin) 3dMVM (ANOVA style computations) model. Within this framework, general linear tests were coded to assess differential effects of drug between the groups. Post hoc t-tests were conducted to decompose these interactions by examining between- and within- group effects. Correction for multiple comparisons was performed using a spatial clustering operation in AFNI’s 3dClustSim utilising the autocorrelation function (-acf) with 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations for the whole-brain analysis. Spatial autocorrelation was estimated from residuals from the individual-level GLMs. The initial threshold was set at p = 0.005. As outlined above, bilateral amygdala, anterior insula and midcingulate cortex, were selected a priori for ROI analysis. Small-volume corrections, calculated using an anatomically defined mask (TTN27, a Talaraich atlas from AFNI), yielded thresholds of k = 13 for anterior/mid-cingulate cortex, k = 8 for anterior insula, and k = 2 for amygdala at an initial significance threshold of 0.005 (multiple comparison corrected p<0.05).