photo: killermonkey

James Fallon, neuroscientist at University of California-Irvine studies the brains of psychopaths. Surprisingly, Fallon found that his ancestry is full of violent people and alleged murderers; he immediately scanned his own brain and found little to no activity in the orbital cortex, something free-wheeling people and sociopaths almost always possess. Other brain patterns are also very common in violent criminals: the amygdala, something that controls aggression and appetites, is low functioning. With activity very low in these two areas, the part of the brain that controls rage, violence, eating, sex and drinking grows stronger; all matching Fallon’s brain activity. Fallon also  found the “warrior gene” in his DNA which regulates serotonin brain affecting your ability to regulate your moods and therefore a cause of aggression, very common in violent criminals. Science-wise Fallon is a violent criminal or murderer! However, scientists like Fallon that study criminal behavior and genetic makeup say that all of this is not enough to create a genuine psychopath; abuse or violence in adolescence is almost always the final and necessary ingredient. This shows that, as Fallon says, “He once believed that genes and brain function could determine everything about us. But now he thinks his childhood may have made all the difference.” This is why Fallon feels compasionate for the violent criminals he studies, they just got, “a bad roll of the dice.” (Hagerty, 6/29/10, NPR)