Papers by Maria Fernanda Achá
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2013
Many psychophysiological studies investigate whether psychopaths present low levels of electroder... more Many psychophysiological studies investigate whether psychopaths present low levels of electrodermal activity (EDA). However, despite evidence that varying degrees of psychopathy are normally distributed in the population, there is a paucity of EDA studies evaluating dimensionally. Moreover, although lack of empathy is a cornerstone of psychopathy, there has been a lack of studies using pictures of empathic emotional content to assess psychophysiological responses. Method: We studied a population of young male delinquents (n = 30) from a detention center, using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) to determine if higher levels of psychopathy were related to lesser degrees of EDA in response to emotion-eliciting pictures of empathic content. Results: There were significant correlations (p < 0.05) between latency and peak of EDA responses to unpleasant pictures and factor 1 scores, as well as between lability of EDA responses and factor 2 scores. Conclusion: These results extend previous findings indicating direct relationship between EDA and psychopathy, and suggest that separate investigations of the two PCL-R factors have the potential to unravel more complex relationships between EDA and psychopathy. Also, by demonstrating such associations using emotion-provoking stimuli with empathic content, our results provide a link between levels of psychopathy and biological indices of empathic detachment.
Background: According to the literature, juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in many countr... more Background: According to the literature, juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in many countries, which has increased researches with forensic population seeking for the etiology of antisocial behavior. In this context, neuropsychological evaluation is usually used as an ...
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Resumo Contexto: A relação entre transtorno mental e histórico de abuso sexual é frequentemente o... more Resumo Contexto: A relação entre transtorno mental e histórico de abuso sexual é frequentemente observada na prática clínica e relatada na literatura. Objetivo: Descrever os dados demográficos e os aspectos emocionais e comportamentais em crianças e ...
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Papers by Maria Fernanda Achá