NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND COGNITIVE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL SUBSTRATES OF IMPULSIVE AGGRESSION

The purpose of this study was to test whether subjects who commit impu lsive vs non-impulsive aggression differ on measurements of personalit y, neuropsychology, and cognitive psychophysiology, and whether these differences can yield information regarding the etiology of impulsive aggression. Subjects were two groups of prison inmates, distinguished by their committal of impulsive or nonimpulsive aggression, and matche d noninmate controls. All inmates met DSM Ill-R criteria for an antiso cial personality disorder but for no other disorder. Impulsiveness, an ger, and peak P300 latencies did not differ between the inmate groups, but verbal symbol decoding and peak P300 amplitudes did. Impulsivenes s and verbal skills were inversely correlated, Impulsiveness was inver sely correlated with, and verbal skills positively correlated with P30 0 amplitudes. The results indicate that aggression is not homogenous, even among antisocial persons, and that impulsive aggression is relate d to neuropsychological and cognitive psychophysiological measures of information processing beyond those factors related to criminality alo ne. (C) 1997 Society of Biological Psychiatry.