Michael Koenigs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
H-index: 50
North America-United States
About Michael Koenigs
Michael Koenigs, With an exceptional h-index of 50 and a recent h-index of 41 (since 2020), a distinguished researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializes in the field of Social and affective neuroscience, Forensic psychology.
His recent articles reflect a diverse array of research interests and contributions to the field:
Clarifying the relationship between mental illness and recidivism using machine learning: A retrospective study
Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychopathic Traits in Justice-involved Adult Males
The “Best of Both Worlds”: Building an authentic and equitable community-academic partnership for research with legal system-impacted individuals
Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions enhance the effect of expectations on pain perception
Impaired salience network switching in psychopathy
An examination of autonomic and facial responses to prototypical facial emotion expressions in psychopathy
Correlates of externalizing psychopathology in incarcerated men.
Criminal histories and rates of recidivism among Two subtypes of psychopathic individuals
Michael Koenigs Information
University | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
---|---|
Position | Professor of Psychiatry |
Citations(all) | 23045 |
Citations(since 2020) | 7909 |
Cited By | 18126 |
hIndex(all) | 50 |
hIndex(since 2020) | 41 |
i10Index(all) | 81 |
i10Index(since 2020) | 77 |
University Profile Page | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
Michael Koenigs Skills & Research Interests
Social and affective neuroscience
Forensic psychology
Top articles of Michael Koenigs
Clarifying the relationship between mental illness and recidivism using machine learning: A retrospective study
Authors
Talia R Cohen,Gaylen E Fronk,Kent A Kiehl,John J Curtin,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Plos one
Published Date
2024/2/23
Objective There is currently inconclusive evidence regarding the relationship between recidivism and mental illness. This retrospective study aimed to use rigorous machine learning methods to understand the unique predictive utility of mental illness for recidivism in a general population (i.e.; not only those with mental illness) prison sample in the United States. Method Participants were adult men (n = 322) and women (n = 72) who were recruited from three prisons in the Midwest region of the United States. Three model comparisons using Bayesian correlated t-tests were conducted to understand the incremental predictive utility of mental illness, substance use, and crime and demographic variables for recidivism prediction. Three classification statistical algorithms were considered while evaluating model configurations for the t-tests: elastic net logistic regression (GLMnet), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and random forests (RF). Results Rates of substance use disorders were particularly high in our sample (86.29%). Mental illness variables and substance use variables did not add predictive utility for recidivism prediction over and above crime and demographic variables. Exploratory analyses comparing the crime and demographic, substance use, and mental illness feature sets to null models found that only the crime and demographics model had an increased likelihood of improving recidivism prediction accuracy. Conclusions Despite not finding a direct relationship between mental illness and recidivism, treatment of mental illness in incarcerated populations is still essential due to the high rates of mental illnesses, the legal imperative, the …
Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychopathic Traits in Justice-involved Adult Males
Authors
Tessa Cappelle,Craig S Neumann,Amanda M Cook,Esther Kim,Carla L Harenski,Bethany G Edwards,Gerard JB Clarke,Jean Decety,Kent A Kiehl
Journal
Journal of personality disorders
Published Date
2023/4
Studies have documented associations between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and mental disorders. The relationship between psychopathic personality and TBI remains poorly understood, though both are associated with similar characteristics (e.g., low empathy, aggression, disturbances in social/moral behavior). Yet, it is not clear whether assessment of psychopathic features is influenced by presence versus absence of TBI, and which aspects of TBI may be associated with psychopathic traits. This study examined the psychopathy-TBI association in justice-involved women (N = 341) with structural equation modeling. We tested if measurement invariance of psychopathic traits was evident among those with versus without TBI and which TBI variables (number, severity, age at first TBI) predicted psychopathic features in conjunction with symptoms of psychopathology, IQ, and age. Results provided evidence of …
The “Best of Both Worlds”: Building an authentic and equitable community-academic partnership for research with legal system-impacted individuals
Authors
Talia R Cohen,Karen Reece,Aaron Hicks,Deborah Mejchar,Carmen Alonso,Anthony Cooper,Michael Koenigs,Daniel W Grupe
Published Date
2023/11/15
Equitable and sustained community-academic partnerships are crucial for research on improving health outcomes among criminal legal system-impacted individuals. This paper was co-written by members of a unique research team consisting of academic researchers and community partners, including formerly incarcerated individuals. Drawing from meeting notes, panel presentations, and informal conversations, we describe the opportunities and challenges that emerged through a year-long pilot project intended to adapt a mental health intervention for correctional settings. The somewhat narrow focus of this project expanded dramatically over the course of the year as team members adapted to working together and realized the potential for the sustained impact of a long-term collaboration. Through this process, team members developed deep respect for one another’s ideas and expertise, whether rooted in academic training or lived experiences. Our experiences offer lessons for other researchers interested in community-engaged research that centers the perspective of legal system-impacted individuals.
Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions enhance the effect of expectations on pain perception
Authors
Julian C Motzkin,Jaryd Hiser,Ian Carroll,Richard Wolf,Mustafa K Baskaya,Michael Koenigs,Lauren Y Atlas
Journal
Cortex
Published Date
2023/9/1
Pain is strongly modulated by expectations and beliefs. Across species, subregions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) are implicated in a variety of functions germane to pain, predictions, and learning. Human fMRI studies show that VMPFC activity tracks expectations about pain and mediates expectancy effects on pain-related activity in other brain regions. Prior lesion studies suggest that VMPFC may instead play a more general role in generating affective responses to painful stimuli. To test whether VMPFC is required to generate affective responses to pain or is more specifically involved in expectancy-based pain modulation, we studied responses to heat stimuli in five adults with bilateral surgical lesions of VMPFC and twenty healthy adults without brain damage. All participants underwent a quantitative sensory testing procedure followed by a pain expectancy task in which cues predicting either low or …
Impaired salience network switching in psychopathy
Authors
Philip Deming,Cole J Cook,Mary E Meyerand,Kent A Kiehl,David S Kosson,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Behavioural Brain Research
Published Date
2023/8/24
Growing evidence suggests that psychopathy is related to altered connectivity within and between three large-scale brain networks that support core cognitive functions, including allocation of attention. In healthy individuals, default mode network (DMN) is involved in internally-focused attention and cognition such as self-reference. Frontoparietal network (FPN) is anticorrelated with DMN and is involved in externally-focused attention to cognitively demanding tasks. A third network, salience network (SN), is involved in detecting salient cues and, crucially, appears to play a role in switching between the two anticorrelated networks, DMN and FPN, to efficiently allocate attentional resources. Psychopathy has been related to reduced anticorrelation between DMN and FPN, suggesting SN’s role in switching between these two networks may be diminished in the disorder. To test this hypothesis, we used independent …
An examination of autonomic and facial responses to prototypical facial emotion expressions in psychopathy
Authors
P Deming,H Eisenbarth,O Rodrik,S Weaver,K Kiehl,M Koenigs
Journal
International Journal of Psychophysiology
Published Date
2023/6/1
Meta-analyses have found that people high in psychopathy categorize (or “recognize”) others’ prototypical facial emotion expressions with reduced accuracy. However, these have been contested with remaining questions regarding the strength, specificity, and mechanisms of this ability in psychopathy. In addition, few studies have tested holistically whether psychopathy is related to reduced facial mimicry or autonomic arousal in response to others’ dynamic facial expressions. Therefore, the current study presented 6 s videos of a target person making prototypical emotion expressions (anger, fear, disgust, sadness, joy, and neutral) to N= 88 incarcerated adult males while recording facial electromyography, skin conductance response (SCR), and heart rate. Participants identified the emotion category and rated the valence and intensity of the target person’s emotion. Psychopathy was assessed via the Psychopathy …
Correlates of externalizing psychopathology in incarcerated men.
Authors
Odile Rodrik,Shelby S Weaver,Kent A Kiehl,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Psychological assessment
Published Date
2022/10
Externalizing traits are extremely costly for society and disproportionately prevalent among incarcerated individuals. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is an empirically derived classification system that approaches psychopathology dimensionally and was developed in response to critiques of current diagnostic classification systems. The Externalizing Spectrum Inventory–100 item version (ESI-100) is an assessment of externalizing problems that fits within the HiTOP framework and characterizes dimensional externalizing traits. The present study aimed to replicate prior research examining the convergent validity of the ESI Total Score by examining associations with psychopathy, conduct disorder, and substance use among incarcerated males. A total of 1,808 participants had ESI-100 data, although sample sizes across criterion measures varied. The majority of results replicated …
Criminal histories and rates of recidivism among Two subtypes of psychopathic individuals
Authors
Shelby S Weaver,Monika Dargis,Kent A Kiehl,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Criminal justice and behavior
Published Date
2022/4
Although it is well established that individuals with psychopathic traits are a high-risk group for criminal recidivism, there is considerable evidence that psychopathy is a heterogeneous personality disorder comprised of two subtypes who differ on levels of negative affect (NA). However, few studies have examined differences in criminal histories, and fewer still have investigated differences in recidivism among subtypes of psychopathy. The current study compared criminal histories and recidivism rates between psychopathy subtypes differing in NA (high-NA vs. low-NA) within a sample of adult males incarcerated in state prisons. The high-NA and low-NA psychopathy subtypes did not differ on histories of total, nonviolent, or violent crime, and did not differ on rates of total, nonviolent, or violent recidivism. This finding highlights equally high levels of criminal risk associated with both subtypes of psychopathic …
How reliable are amygdala findings in psychopathy? A systematic review of MRI studies
Authors
Philip Deming,Mickela Heilicher,Michael Koenigs
Published Date
2022/11/1
The amygdala is a key component in predominant neural circuitry models of psychopathy. Yet, after two decades of neuroimaging research on psychopathy, the reproducibility of amygdala findings is questionable. We systematically reviewed MRI studies (81 of adults, 53 of juveniles) to determine the consistency of amygdala findings across studies, as well as within specific types of experimental tasks, community versus forensic populations, and the lowest- versus highest-powered studies. Three primary findings emerged. First, the majority of studies found null relationships between psychopathy and amygdala structure and function, even in the context of theoretically relevant tasks. Second, findings of reduced amygdala activity were more common in studies with low compared to high statistical power. Third, the majority of peak coordinates of reduced amygdala activity did not fall primarily within the anatomical …
Neuroimaging studies of psychopathy
Authors
Philip Deming,Michael Koenigs
Published Date
2021
In recent years, an increasing number of neuroimaging studies have sought to identify the brain anomalies associated with psychopathy. The results of such studies could have significant implications for the clinical and legal management of psychopaths, as well as for neurobiological models of human social behavior. In this chapter we provide a critical review of structural and functional neuroimaging studies of psychopathy. In particular, we emphasize the considerable variability in results across studies and focus our discussion on three methodological issues that could contribute to the observed heterogeneity in study data: (1) the use of between-group analyses (i.e., psychopaths vs. non-psychopaths) as well as correlational analyses (i.e., normal variation in “psychopathic” traits), (2) discrepancies in the criteria used to classify subjects as psychopaths, and (3) consideration of psychopathic subtypes. The …
The prevalence, characteristics, and psychiatric correlates of traumatic brain injury in incarcerated individuals: an examination in two independent samples
Authors
Brett S Schneider,David B Arciniegas,Carla Harenski,Gerard Janez Brett Clarke,Kent A Kiehl,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Brain injury
Published Date
2021/12/6
Primary ObjectiveIdentify the prevalence, characteristics, and psychological correlates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among incarcerated individuals.Research DesignThree aims: (1) Determine the prevalence and characteristics of TBI in 1469 adults incarcerated in Wisconsin state prisons (1064 men, 405 women); (2) Characterize the relationship between mild TBI and mental illness in a sub-sample of men and women; (3) Reproduce the findings from Aim 1 and Aim 2 in an independent sample of 1015 adults incarcerated in New Mexico state prisons (600 men, 415 women).Methods and ProceduresStandardized TBI assessment with structured clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires.Main Outcomes and ResultsRates of TBI were approximately five times greater than the general population, with a substantially higher rate of TBI caused by assault. In the Wisconsin sample, mild TBI was associated with …
Uncertainty potentiates neural and cardiac responses to visual stimuli in anxiety disorders
Authors
Jaryd Hiser,Brett Schneider,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Published Date
2021/7/1
BackgroundIntolerance of uncertainty and worry about future events are cardinal features of anxiety. However, the neurobiological and physiological mechanisms underlying these characteristics of anxiety remain to be fully elucidated.MethodsIndividuals with diagnosed anxiety disorders (n = 29, 22 female) and age-matched comparison subjects (n = 28, 17 female) completed a task in which pictures (aversive or neutral content) were preceded by cues indicating certainty or uncertainty about the emotional valence of the subsequent pictures. We assessed functional magnetic resonance imaging and heart rate activity with respect to the 1) cue period, 2) emotional valence of the pictures, and 3) modulatory effect of uncertainty on responses to subsequent pictures.ResultsIndividuals with anxiety disorders and comparison subjects exhibited similar functional magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac activity during the …
Gray matter correlates of impulsivity in psychopathy and in the general population differ by kind, not by degree: a comparison of systematic reviews
Authors
Cole Korponay,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
Published Date
2021/7/1
A fundamental question in neuropsychiatry is whether a neurobiological continuum accompanies the behavioral continuum between subclinical and clinical traits. Impulsivity is a trait that varies in the general population and manifests severely in disorders like psychopathy. Is the neural profile of severe impulsivity in psychopathy an extreme but continuous manifestation of that associated with impulsivity in the general population (different by degree)? Or is it discontinuous and unique (different by kind)? Here, we compare systematic reviews of the relationship between impulsivity and gray matter in psychopathy and in the general population. The findings suggest that the neural profile associated with extreme impulsivity in psychopathy (increased gray matter in rostral and ventral striatum and prefrontal cortexes) is distinct from that associated with impulsivity in the general population (decreased gray matter in …
Left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex lesions reduce suicidal ideation in penetrating traumatic brain injury
Authors
Matteo Pardini,Jordan Grafman,Vanessa Raymont,Mario Amore,Gianluca Serafini,Michael Koenigs,Frank Krueger
Journal
CNS spectrums
Published Date
2020/2
ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between suicidal ideation (SI), structural brain damage, and cognitive deficits in patients with penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI).MethodsVietnam War veterans (n = 142) with pTBI to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) underwent combination of neuropsychological and psychiatric examinations and non-contrast CT brain scan. Patients were divided into SI positive (SI+) and SI negative (SI−) groups according to the SI item of the Beck Depression Inventory.ResultsLesions to the left rostrolateral PFC (rlPFC) were associated with a lower risk of SI independent of depression and global functioning. Left rlPFC lesion also reduced abstract reasoning skills, which mediated the lesion effects on suicide ideation.ConclusionsThe left rlPFC plays a crucial role in SI independently of depression and global functioning.
Psychopathy is associated with fear-specific reductions in neural activity during affective perspective-taking
Authors
Philip Deming,Monika Dargis,Brian W Haas,Michael Brook,Jean Decety,Carla Harenski,Kent A Kiehl,Michael Koenigs,David S Kosson
Journal
Neuroimage
Published Date
2020/12/1
Psychopathic individuals are notorious for their callous disregard for others’ emotions. Prior research has linked psychopathy to deficits in affective mechanisms underlying empathy (e.g., affective sharing), yet research relating psychopathy to cognitive mechanisms underlying empathy (e.g., affective perspective-taking and Theory of Mind) requires further clarification. To elucidate the neurobiology of cognitive mechanisms of empathy in psychopathy, we administered an fMRI task and tested for global as well as emotion-specific deficits in affective perspective-taking. Adult male incarcerated offenders (N = 94) viewed images of two people interacting, with one individual's face obscured by a shape. Participants were cued to either identify the emotion of the obscured individual or identify the shape from one of two emotion or shape choices presented on each trial. Target emotions included anger, fear, happiness …
Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers
Authors
Ashly Sajous-Turner,Nathaniel E Anderson,Matthew Widdows,Prashanth Nyalakanti,Keith Harenski,Carla Harenski,Michael Koenigs,Jean Decety,Kent A Kiehl
Journal
Brain imaging and behavior
Published Date
2020/10
Homicide is a significant societal problem with economic costs in the billions of dollars annually and incalculable emotional impact on victims and society. Despite this high burden, we know very little about the neuroscience of individuals who commit homicide. Here we examine brain gray matter differences in incarcerated adult males who have committed homicide (n = 203) compared to other non-homicide offenders (n = 605; total n = 808). Homicide offenders’ show reduced gray matter in brain areas critical for behavioral control and social cognition compared with subsets of other violent and non-violent offenders. This demonstrates, for the first time, that unique brain abnormalities may distinguish offenders who kill from other serious violent offenders and non-violent antisocial individuals.
Sacrificing reward to avoid threat: Characterizing PTSD in the context of a trauma-related approach–avoidance conflict task.
Authors
Shelby S Weaver,Emily B Kroska,Marisa C Ross,Anneliis Sartin-Tarm,Kyrie A Sellnow,Katherine Schaumberg,Kent A Kiehl,Michael Koenigs,Josh M Cisler
Journal
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Published Date
2020/7
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by heightened avoidance, cognitive inflexibility, and impaired reward processing. Maladaptive behavior in PTSD may reflect an imbalance between approach and avoidance, but no research has investigated approach–avoidance conflict (AAC) in PTSD. The current study investigated approach–avoidance behavior in PTSD using a trauma-related AAC (trAAC) task in two independent samples. In Study 1, 43 women with a current diagnosis of PTSD and 18 healthy comparison subjects were recruited from the community. In Study 2, 53 women with trauma exposure and a range of PTSD symptoms were recruited from a correctional institution. Trials were separated into two phases: conflict (the option most likely to win points was most likely to show a trauma-related image) and congruent (the option most likely to win points was least likely to show a trauma-related …
Functional neural correlates of psychopathy: a meta-analysis of MRI data
Authors
Philip Deming,Michael Koenigs
Journal
Translational psychiatry
Published Date
2020/5/6
Neuroimaging studies over the last two decades have begun to specify the neurobiological correlates of psychopathy, a personality disorder that is strongly related to criminal offending and recidivism. Despite the accumulation of neuroimaging studies of psychopathy, a clear and comprehensive picture of the disorder’s neural correlates has yet to emerge. The current study is a meta-analysis of functional MRI studies of psychopathy. Multilevel kernel density analysis was used to identify consistent findings across 25 studies (460 foci) of task-related brain activity. Psychopathy was associated with increased task-related activity predominantly in midline cortical regions overlapping with the default mode network (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, and precuneus) as well as medial temporal lobe (including amygdala). Psychopathy was related to decreased task-related activity in a region of the dorsal …
Michael Koenigs FAQs
What is Michael Koenigs's h-index at University of Wisconsin-Madison?
The h-index of Michael Koenigs has been 41 since 2020 and 50 in total.
What are Michael Koenigs's top articles?
The articles with the titles of
Clarifying the relationship between mental illness and recidivism using machine learning: A retrospective study
Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychopathic Traits in Justice-involved Adult Males
The “Best of Both Worlds”: Building an authentic and equitable community-academic partnership for research with legal system-impacted individuals
Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions enhance the effect of expectations on pain perception
Impaired salience network switching in psychopathy
An examination of autonomic and facial responses to prototypical facial emotion expressions in psychopathy
Correlates of externalizing psychopathology in incarcerated men.
Criminal histories and rates of recidivism among Two subtypes of psychopathic individuals
...
are the top articles of Michael Koenigs at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
What are Michael Koenigs's research interests?
The research interests of Michael Koenigs are: Social and affective neuroscience, Forensic psychology
What is Michael Koenigs's total number of citations?
Michael Koenigs has 23,045 citations in total.