The British Journal of Psychiatry 144: 463-474 (1984)
© 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The contingent negative variation, personality and antisocial behaviour
RC Howard, GW Fenton and PB Fenwick
Using a classical click/flash paradigm the contingent negative variation
(CNV) was recorded from 60 consecutive male admissions to Broadmoor
Hospital. Clinical and psychometric Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI) assessments were made independently of the
electroencephalography (EEG) data. A trend for higher amplitude CNV's to be
recorded from patients with a clinical diagnosis of antisocial
(psychopathic) personality was observed. Patients with a Mental Health Act
diagnosis of psychopathic disorder had significantly higher voltage CNV's
than those in the mental illness category. These CNV differences were only
found in the primary (non-anxious, sociable) psychopaths. Secondary
(neurotic, unsociable) psychopaths did not differ from staff controls. A
positive association between CNV voltage and the personality factor of
sociability(sociable-shy dimension) was observed. A weak, negative
correlation between CNV amplitude and impulsivity (impulsive-controlled
dimension) was also apparent. All subjects showed an habituation effect
across trials. No difference in response variability between successive
series of trials was apparent in any of the patient groups.