Table 1.

Social/emotional function and neuropsychological data as a function of patient (VMPC group) or group (VMPC, BDC)

PatientAcquired sociopathy a Regulation defect b IQWMIWCST Cat.WCST PETMT B − A
1Yes (3)Yes (3)1431246437
2Yes (3)Yes (3)1081186782
3Yes (3)Yes (3)911026871
4Yes (3)Yes (3)10410561027
5Yes (3)Yes (2)1061246913
6Yes (2)Yes (2)1091026721
7Yes (3)Yes (3)8488 0 66 126
VMPC meanYes (2.9)Yes (2.7)106.4109.05.115.953.9
(SD)(0.4)(0.5)(18.7)(13.5)(2.3)(22.2)(40.9)
BDC meanNo (0)No (0)99.897.94.016.452.4
(SD)(15.3)(14.2)(2.4)(13.3)(39.0)
  • The numbers in parentheses denote degree of severity, where 1 is mild, 2 is moderate, and 3 is severe. All BDC patients were normal on these measures. IQ, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) Full Scale IQ; WMI, Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) Working Memory Index. For the WAIS-III and WMS-III, scores are standard scores, where the mean is 100 and the SD is 15. WCST, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Cat., number of categories completed; PE, number of perseverative errors); TMT, Trailmaking Test (B — A, Part B minus Part A times to completion, in seconds; higher scores are worse). Underlined scores are defective. One VMPC patient (7) had significant defects on most of the executive functioning measures; the other six were nearly flawless across the board, and as a group, the VMPC patients did not differ from the BDC patients on any of the measures reported here (p values > 0.10 in t test). Additional neuropsychological data are provided in the supplemental material (available at www.jneurosci.org).

  • aAcquired sociopathy refers to whether the participant met criteria for acquired sociopathy.

  • bRegulation defect refers to whether the participant evinces poorly modulated emotional reactions (lability, irritability, tantrums, outbursts). The ratings for acquired sociopathy and regulation defect were derived from Iowa Rating Scales of Personality Change and from interviews and medical records.