A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret

8/30/2010 A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secr…
A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret

by BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY
First in a three-part series
June 29, 2010 text size A A A
The criminal brain has always held a fascination

for James Fallon. For nearly 20 years, the
neuroscientist at the University of California-
Irvine has studied the brains of psychopaths. He
studies the biological basis for behavior, and
one of his specialties is to try to figure out how a
killer's brain differs from yours and mine.
About four years ago, Fallon made a startling

discovery. It happened during a conversation
with his then 88-year-old mother, Jenny, at a
Enlarge Courtesy of Jim Fallon
family barbecue.
Fallon w ith his w ife, daughters and son. When he compared
the brain scans of his family — including his w ife, siblings,
children and mother — his w as the only one that resembled "I said, 'Jim, why don't you find out about your
the brain of a pyschopath. father's relatives?' " Jenny Fallon recalls. "I think
there were some cuckoos back there."
Fallon investigated.
"There's a whole lineage of very violent people — killers," he says.
One of his direct great-grandfathers, Thomas Cornell, was hanged in 1667 for murdering his
mother. That line of Cornells produced seven other alleged murderers, including Lizzy Borden.
"Cousin Lizzy," as Fallon wryly calls her, was accused (and controversially acquitted) of killing her
father and stepmother with an ax in Fall River, Mass., in 1882.
A little spooked by his ancestry, Fallon set out to see whether anyone in
Explore The Series his family possesses the brain of a serial killer. Because he has studied
PART 2: Inside A the brains of dozens of psychopaths, he knew precisely what to look for.
Psychopath's Brain:The To demonstrate, he opened his laptop and called up an image of a brain
Sentencing Debate
June 30, 2010
on his computer screen.
PART 3: Can Your Genes
Make You Murder? "Here is a brain that's not normal," he says. There are patches of yellow
July 1, 2010 and red. Then he points to another section of the brain, in the front part
of the brain, just behind the eyes.
"Look at that — there's almost nothing here," Fallon says.
This is the orbital cortex, the area that Fallon and other scientists believe is involved with ethical
behavior, moral decision-making and impulse control.
"People with low activity [in the orbital cortex] are either free-wheeling types or sociopaths," he
says.
npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor… 1/6
8/30/2010 y A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secr…
Fallon's Scans
He's clearly oversimplifying, but Fallon says the orbital cortex puts a brake on another part of the
brain called the amygdala, which is involved with aggression and appetites. But in some people,
there's an imbalance — the orbital cortex isn't doing its job — perhaps because the person had a
brain injury or was born that way.
"What's left? What takes over?" he asks. "The area of the brain that drives your id-type behaviors,
which is rage, violence, eating, sex, drinking."
Fallon says nobody in his family has real

problems with those behaviors. But he wanted
to be sure. Conveniently, he had everything he
needed: Previously, he had persuaded 10 of his
close relatives to submit to a PET brain scan
and give a blood sample as part of a project to
see whether his family had a risk for developing
Alzheimer's disease.
After learning his violent family history, he

examined the images and compared them with
the brains of psychopaths. His wife's scan was
Courtesy of Jim Fallon normal. His mother: normal. His siblings: normal.
Fallon's brain (on the right) has dark patches in the orbital
His children: normal.
cortex, the area just behind the eyes. This is the area that
Fallon and other scientists say is involved w ith ethical
behavior, moral decision-making and impulse control. The "And I took a look at my own PET scan and saw
normal scan on the left is his son's. something disturbing that I did not talk about,"
he says.
What he didn't want to reveal was that his orbital cortex looks inactive.
"If you look at the PET scan, I look just like one of those killers."
Fallon cautions that this is a young field. Scientists are just beginning to study this area of the brain
— much less the brains of criminals. Still, he says the evidence is accumulating that some people's
brains predispose them toward violence and that psychopathic tendencies may be passed down
from one generation to another.
The Three Ingredients
And that brings us to the next part of Jim Fallon's family experiment. Along with brain scans, Fallon
also tested each family member's DNA for genes that are associated with violence. He looked at 12
genes related to aggression and violence and zeroed in on the MAO-A gene (monoamine oxidase
A). This gene, which has been the target of considerable research, is also known as the "warrior
gene" because it regulates serotonin in the brain. Serotonin affects your mood — think Prozac —
and many scientists believe that if you have a certain version of the warrior gene, your brain won't
respond to the calming effects of serotonin.
Fallon calls up another slide on his computer. It has a list of family members' names, and next to
them, the results of the genotyping. Everyone in his family has the low-aggression variant of the
MAO-A gene, except for one person.
"You see that? I'm 100 percent. I have the pattern, the risky pattern," he says, then pauses. "In a
sense, I'm a born killer."
Fallon's being tongue-in-cheek — sort of. He

doesn't believe his fate or anyone else's is
entirely determined by genes. They merely tip
you in one direction or another.
And yet: "When I put the two together, it was

frankly a little disturbing," Fallon says with a
laugh. "You start to look at yourself and you
say, 'I may be a sociopath.' I don't think I am, but
this looks exactly like [the brains of] the
psychopaths, the sociopaths, that I've seen
before."
Enlarge Courtesy of Jim Fallon
Fallon w as prompted to study his brain after his mother, I asked his wife, Diane, what she thought of the
Jenny, told him his ancestry w as full of alleged murderers. result.
"I wasn't too concerned," she says, laughing. "I mean, I've known him since I was 12."
Diane probably does not need to worry, according to scientists who study this area. They believe
that brain patterns and genetic makeup are not enough to make anyone a psychopath. You need a
third ingredient: abuse or violence in one's childhood.
"And fortunately, he wasn't abused as a young person," Diane says, "so I've lived to be a ripe old
age so far."
The New World of 'Neurolaw'
Jim Fallon says he had a terrific childhood; he was doted on by his parents and had loving
relationships with his brothers and sisters and entire extended family. Significantly, he says this
journey through his brain has changed the way he thinks about nature and nurture. 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.
"We'll never know, but the way these patterns are looking in general population, had I been
abused, we might not be sitting here today," he says.
As for the psychopaths he studies, Fallon feels some compassion for these people who, he says,
got "a bad roll of the dice."
"It's an unlucky day when all of these three things come together in a bad way, and I think one has
to empathize with what happened to them," he says.
But what about people who rape and murder — should we feel empathy for them? Should they be
allowed to argue in court that their brains made them do it? Enter the new world of "neurolaw" — in
which neuroscience is used as evidence in the courtroom.
comments
Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.
Recent First
Ed Stock (Estock) wrote:
"You need a third ingredient: abuse or violence in one's childhood. "
Sure looks to me like someone is fitting the facts to the hypothesis. Suppose, as the saying
goes, "it skips a generation"....or the genes express themselves at different times of
people's lives. I seriously doubt that childhood abuse is a trigger for later sociopathy.
Childhood "abuse" is a vague term that can cover a wide spectrum of psychological and
physical traumas. It's naive to believe that the generic "abuse" is a sufficient precipitator of
violent or anti-social behavior.
Mon Jul 05 2010 20:40:27 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time)
Recommend (25) Report abuse
Julie Joy (Juliejoy) wrote:

This brain scan information is just what we need to begin to deal more realistically with
people who have been 'unlucky' enough, as James Fallon says, to have all three strikes
against them. As a psychologist and activist who has dealt with people in prison, I believe
we need to take into account people's past histories and genetic predispositions in order to
determine what they need to heal their lives and become productive human beings, as well
as to take responsibility for the crimes they have committed. Rather than warehousing
prisoners and forgetting about them, the humane way to deal with their situation is to take
each person's case and determine what they need to become whole again, while also
paying the price for their actions. I hope that one day this will be how the legal and treatment
systems come together to deal with people who have acted out their psychopathic
tendencies and their childhood abuse. I believe, based on my experience with clients who
have had sometimes severely abusive childhoods, that many people charged with crimes
are capable of living productive lives if given the treatment and care they have never
received. I have seen it happen. I only hope that society will one day agree.
Jennifer Nani (Ascertain20) wrote:

Frankly I'm NOT surprised about Jim's brain being the brain of a "psychopath." The field he
works in (and the competitiveness to boot), the people he works with, it was BOUND to get
to him. Plus, given his family history, there's little suprise his brain is that way. Plus given
the way his family talks to each other in black and white terms (normal-abnormal ie "I think
there were some cuckoos back there"), it's a wonder he's NOT a killer.
tina hahn (tinamariehahn) wrote:

Anyone not having a victim of child abuse will have a difficult time understanding the effects.
I basically see it as having to go through life and the goal with to win the world's sprinting
record. However after child abuse, you have to run with an artificial leg. Maybe running with
an artificial leg will in some day be adventagious but at this point in time, I do not believe
that is the case. In particular, if you were abused you probably don't know how to get an
artificial leg. It does not matter how "moral" you are or are not.
Bjorn Merker (Skander) wrote:

There is no deeper or more pervasive conceptual confusion in matters moral than the
assumption that moral responsibility is based upon, derives from, and is incurred for
choices made in isolation from causal necessity (by exercise of a presumptive "free will").
On the contrary, we bear moral responsibility for an act not because our choice was made
free of causal constraint, but exactly and directly because the causal constraints active in the
choice situation were resolved by us in causal dependence upon our personal
characteristics. That is, being who we are, as individuals with an individual nature and with
a personal history, we did in fact choose as we did, for reasons causally grounded in our
personal characteristics. Given these and the causal channels for their expression in our
choices and acts, we resolved the causal influences acting upon us in a particular situation
in a particular way, impressing upon that choice and the act flowing from it the stamp of our
ownership. That it flowed directly and uniquely from our distinctive individual nature and
history by causal necessity means that we were engaged in making the decision, and
hence are responsible for it as its causal authors, morally no less than practically.
tina hahn (tinamariehahn) wrote:

I think that this is excellent and very needed research. An individual born with a CF for ex. or
on the I-35 when it crashes into the MISS. gets compassion. Child abuse victums often do
not. Child abuse is devestating and its effects are long lasting. I do not have a GOD complex
but I have graduated from a very good American Medical School in Michigan. I grow up on
AFDC. I was the oldest of three children. Every day we were threatened with death by our
father. I grew up thinking that no one cared. I also grew up understanding the anger
expressed by those not protected from child abuse. The child abuse effect is long lasting
and devestating. In fact I have a severe anxiety disorder (I am greatful that I do not appear to
have the MAO-A varient gene). However long before any of this research came to light, I
could see people wanting to hide behind walls thinking that would make them safe from
crime. I though "this is ridiculous". What we must do is protect children and give them safe
and happy homes. I have lost several positions as a pediatrician, primarily because of my
anxiety and lack of social skills experience. Preventing child abuse protects society and the
innocent children who suffer unnecessarily. Love the children.
Marianne North (weepy) wrote:

I am not sure Thomas Cornell should be so readily called a sociopath. According to my
search on the Internet, Thomas Cornell of the 1600's was convicted of killing his mother, but
there were some who doubted his guilt. Check it out.
GW F (gwynne_dyer_fan) wrote:
As long as we don't know why someone did a bad thing, we can punish them so they might
decide not to do it again.
But as soon as we "understand" why a bad thing occuured, we can no longer do anything
about it (except wring our hands in despair).
Where is this headed? Not to a very good future, I worry. The real answer is unthinkable:
eugenics and increased (occasionally enforced) birth control. And probably also clawing
back a few preciously granted "rights".
Mark Stein (slanagat) wrote:

What's intriguing here is not the disturbing thought of using these findings as a defense
after the fact of a crime. It's the compelling possibiity of intervention before the fact. The
conventional wisdom has long held that the sudden violent acts of a lone psychopath are
completely out of our control to predict or prevent. Dr. Fallon's thesis that neurological and
genetic predispositions still require environmental activation holds out the possibility that, in
a truly humane society where mental health intervention and treatment is given parity with
other fields of medicine, there is a chance of preventing the abuse that creates violent
psychopaths.
helen weingarten (desidog) wrote:

those who can 'do,' those who can't 'teach' or in this instance 'research.' there is evidence
that objectivity in science is a myth and that we are drawn to study, subjects to which we are
drawn. . .perhaps in this instance through biology. it's intrigueing to consider that in this
case the gene for 'sociopathy,' led to tenure.
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8/30/2010 A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secr…

First in a three-part series

June 29, 2010 text size A A A

The criminal brain has always held a fascination

About four years ago, Fallon made a startling

"There's a whole lineage of very violent people — killers," he says.

"Look at that — there's almost nothing here," Fallon says.

Fallon says nobody in his family has real

After learning his violent family history, he

The Three Ingredients

Fallon's being tongue-in-cheek — sort of. He

And yet: "When I put the two together, it was

The New World of 'Neurolaw'

Julie Joy (Juliejoy) wrote:

Jennifer Nani (Ascertain20) wrote:

tina hahn (tinamariehahn) wrote:

Bjorn Merker (Skander) wrote:

tina hahn (tinamariehahn) wrote:

Marianne North (weepy) wrote:

Mark Stein (slanagat) wrote:

helen weingarten (desidog) wrote:

View all comments (284)»

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