The Psychopath and Brain Matter

Technician analyzing CAT scans

Here is an interesting research study from Germany that studied the brain matter of psychopaths versus non-psychopaths.

The summary says:

This is the first study to show that psychopathy is associated with a decrease in gray matter in both frontal and temporal brain regions, in particular in the right superior temporal gyrus, supporting the hypothesis that a disturbed frontotemporal network is critically involved in the pathogenesis of psychopathy.

Of course, there is lots of research out there, but I have seen several studies over the years that talk about different brain structures of psychopaths.

Here is another fascinating study from BBC that talks about how psychopaths brains are different. In this article they talk about emotion recognition and the differences noted in the psychopathic brain. Fascinating stuff. As I always say, we are in the stone ages of understanding the brain, if you ask me.

If this is true, how can one not have sympathy for the mothers whose children kill?