Cognitive Control Difficulties Differentiate Callous-Unemotional Traits from Conduct Problems: A Pre-registered Double-blind Randomized Controlled Trial Analysis

Background: Cognitions role in youth antisocial phenotypes of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., lack of remorse, guilt, and empathy) from conduct problems (CP; i.e., antisocial patterns of disruptive and aggressive behaviors) has been a debated topic. Recent evidence points to the need for more nuance in parsing different inhibitory processes. Specifically, selective control (i.e., selectively inhibiting a prepotent response for an alternative to specific stimuli) rather than passive control (i.e., non-response action restraint) has been linked, independent of CP, to affective processing deficits in CU traits. However, it is not known whether CU traits relate to a general difficulty with cognitive demands or a specific impairment in selective control. Methods: The present study tested whether CU traits were differentially related to difficulties in passive versus selective control, while accounting for CP. The design for this test leveraged a randomized parallel-arm design with test and control groups. Data from 85 participants aged 12-14 (female 47%) were analyzed using mixed effects analysis accounting for individual variance across repeated measures.Results: CU traits were associated with better passive control performance but worse selective control performance, whereas CP were unrelated to these trials when including CU traits. These findings were supported across individual trial type accuracy and reaction time, as well as contrasts between trials (e.g., selective > passive). Follow-up analysis suggested that CU traits were related to a more rigid cognitive style during selective control trials only. Conclusions: This study provides additional evidence of a specific cognitive limitation in selective control that differentiates CU traits from CP. Additionally, initial evidence on cognitive strategy during selective control may implicate difficulties with cognitive resources in how cognitive information is processed that aligns with work on adult psychopathy. Thus, selective control may be an important feature for understanding antisocial etiological pathways.