NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A META-ANALYSIS*

Ogilvie, James; Stewart, Anna; Chan, Raymond C. K.; Shum, David · 2011 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00252.x

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Summary

This meta-analysis quantifies the association between antisocial behavior (ASB) and performance on neuropsychological executive functioning (EF) measures, addressing inconsistencies in prior research regarding the nature and specificity of these cognitive impairments. The study was motivated by the need to update and expand upon Morgan and Lilienfeld’s (2000) seminal meta-analysis, which relied on a limited set of EF measures and fewer studies. The authors aimed to reconcile conflicting findings by examining a broader range of EF assessments and exploring how effect sizes vary across different operationalizations of ASB, such as criminality, clinical diagnoses, and aggression. The researchers conducted a comprehensive search of nine computerized databases, reference lists, and unpublished works, contacting key authors to identify relevant studies published up to September 2010. The final analysis included 126 studies involving 14,786 participants. Studies were included if they compared ASB groups (including externalizing behavior disorders, physical aggression, delinquency, criminality, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy) against control groups using neuropsychological tests purported to measure EF. Studies involving participants with comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who were not separated from pure ASB groups were excluded to prevent confounding, though ADHD was analyzed as a moderator in subsidiary analyses. The results demonstrated a robust association between ASB and poor EF performance, with a grand mean effect size of $d = 0.44$, indicating that antisocial groups performed significantly worse than controls. Effect sizes varied significantly by ASB type: the largest deficits were observed in criminality ($d = 0.62$) and externalizing behavior disorders ($d = 0.54$), while the smallest effects were found in antisocial personality disorder ($d = 0.19$). Larger EF deficits were also associated with participants recruited from correctional settings and those with comorbid ADHD. These findings suggest that EF impairments are not uniform across all antisocial populations but are more pronounced in groups characterized by severe, persistent, or legally defined behavioral problems. The study concludes that while a general link exists between EF deficits and ASB, the magnitude of this relationship depends heavily on how ASB is conceptualized and measured. The authors highlight methodological issues in the field, such as the "task impurity" of EF measures and the heterogeneity of antisocial samples. They argue that future research must employ more specific EF batteries and carefully control for confounding variables like ADHD and substance use to better understand the causal mechanisms underlying antisocial behavior. This work provides a critical update to the literature, emphasizing that EF impairments are a significant risk factor, particularly for criminal and externalizing behaviors, rather than a universal marker for all forms of antisociality.

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• executive function