Electroencephalographic abnormalities in antisocial personality disorder

The presence of brain dysfunction in violent offenders has been frequently examined with inconsistent results. The aim of the study was to assess the EEG of 84 violent offenders by visual inspection and frequency-domain quantitative analysis in 84 violent prisoners. Low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) was also employed for theta band of the EEG spectra. Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) was present in 50 of the offenders and it was absent in the remaining 34. The prevalence of EEG abnormalities, by visual inspection, was similar for both the ASPD group (82%) and non-ASPD group (79%). The brain topography of these anomalies also did not differ between groups, in contrast to results of the EEG quantitative analysis (QEEG) and LORETA that showed remarkable regional differences between both groups. QEEG analysis showed a pattern of excess of theta-delta activities and decrease of alpha band on the right fronto-temporal and left temporo-parietal regions in the ASPD group. LORETA signified an increase of theta activity (5.08 Hz) in ASPD group relative to non-ASPD group within left temporal and parietal regions. Findings indicate that QEEG analysis and techniques of source localization may reveal differences in brain electrical activity among offenders with ASPD, which was not obvious to visual inspection.