Brain Difference In Psychopaths Identified.

In the chapter on neuroscience (Inside The Brain) in NOT A CHIMP I describe in detail what scientists have dubbed "the social brain" - a number of heavily interlinked brain regions that receive inputs of relevant emotional stimuli from the outside world (for instance the amygdalae receive images of fear and pain) and process them into appropriate pro-social behaviour like true empathy and the ability to plan and behave appropriately among other human beings. Besides the amygdala, other areas include the orbitofrontal cortex, the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. People who have damage to their orbitofrontal cortices become withdrawn and anti-social and behave inappropriately. Now a team of neuroscientists from Kings College, London have discovered that in the brains of psychopaths the white matter tract that connects the amygdala with the orbitofrontal cortex - the uncinate fasciculus - has structural abnormalities when compared to the brains of normal individuals. The degree of abnormality in the UF was directly related to the degree of psychopathy. Real pathology of the social brain.