@article{ref1,
title="Psychopathic Traits and Preattentive Threat Processing in Children: A Novel Test of the Fearlessness Hypothesis",
journal="Psychological science",
year="2011",
author="Sylvers, Patrick D. and Brennan, Patricia A. and Lilienfeld, Scott O.",
volume="22",
number="10",
pages="1280-1287",
abstract="We tested the fearlessness hypothesis of psychopathy in an at-risk sample of 88 preadolescent children. Psychopathy was measured using combined child- and parent-reported scores on the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD). Using a continuous-flash-suppression paradigm, we evaluated threat processing at the preattentive level for the first time in a study of psychopathy. Scores for the APSD Callous/Unemotional factor, which assesses the core affective deficits of psychopathy, predicted preattentive face-recognition deficits for fearful faces and, to a lesser extent, for disgusted faces. This finding contradicts recent suggestions that the fearlessness associated with psychopathy is solely a consequence of overt attentional artifacts. Future research should focus on preattentive processing of fear in individuals with callous-unemotional traits, and on the implications of preattentive-processing deficits for treatment and theory development.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0956-7976",
doi="10.1177/0956797611420730",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611420730"
}