Antisocial Personality Disorder: Gender Differences in Brain Responses to Fear-Evoking StimuliErin W. HagemanJane Addams College of Social WorkSOCW 527 Psychological TraumaJoshua P. MerskyMarch 13, 2014Summary of research article no. 1Anton, M. E., Baskin-Sommers, A. R., Vitale, J. E., Curtin, J. J., & Newman, J. P. (2012). Differential effects of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder symptoms on cognitive and fear processing in female offenders. Cognitive, affective and behavioral neuroscience, 12(4), 761-776. Introduction This article aimed to demonstrate the differences between female offenders with psychopathic traits versus those with antisocial personality disorder. To do this, a series of tests were administered to allow laboratory observations of cognitive and affective responses to fear-inducing stimuli in three separate situations. This situational variation allowed us to observe the ways in which female offenders respond differently to stressful situations based on task-related demand. Variation in situations created differential responses to violent images depending on the salience of psychopathy versus ASPD. Main research questions This study aimed to demonstrate variations between the cognitive and affective responses of female offenders with psychopathic and antisocial tendencies. It was hypothesized that female offenders with these different psychological presentations would respond differently to fear-inducing situations. The proposed hypotheses were not aimed at guessing the differences that might occur between these disorders. Theoretical Framework Existing research suggests that the fear-potentiated startle response measures the interaction between physical...... middle of paper......rch could begin to explore the prevalence of this disorder in the female population. This would also have potential implications for the assessment and treatment of conduct disorder in the adolescent female population. Currently, it appears that very little is known about the etiology and presentation of antisocial behavior among women, whereas there is much more detailed research on ASPD among men. This may be because previous literature on ASPD did not take into account possible differences in the nature and presentation of female antisocial behavior and assumed that this disorder simply occurs less in females. As research in this area expands, our knowledge of gender differences in antisocial personality disorder will also increase and it will be possible to provide the female population with more accurate assessment, diagnosis and treatment..