Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012 Jan;16(1):52-60.
doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.11.008. Epub 2011 Dec 14.

The psychopath magnetized: insights from brain imaging

Nathaniel E Anderson  1 , Kent A Kiehl
Affiliations
Review

The psychopath magnetized: insights from brain imaging

Nathaniel E Anderson et al. Trends Cogn Sci. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

Psychopaths commit a disproportionate amount of violent crime, and this places a substantial economic and emotional burden on society. Elucidation of the neural correlates of psychopathy may lead to improved management and treatment of the condition. Although some methodological issues remain, the neuroimaging literature is generally converging on a set of brain regions and circuits that are consistently implicated in the condition: the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and the anterior and posterior cingulate and adjacent (para)limbic structures. We discuss these findings in the context of extant theories of psychopathy and highlight the potential legal and policy implications of this body of work.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A cytoarchitectonic map of the human brain [31]. This map divides regions of the brain according to similarity in the types and density of neurons. For example, primary visual (17), auditory (41), and motor (4) regions have similar neuronal organization. Prefrontal and parietal cortex are also similar in structure. Paralimbic regions include the amygdala (34), orbital frontal cortex (25, 47), anterior (32, 33, 24) and posterior cingulate (23, 26, 29, 30, 31), temporal pole (38), parahippocampal area (27, 28, 35, 37) and insula (not depicted).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cleckley H. The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Reinterpret the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. Mosby; 1941.
    1. Leistico AR, et al. A large-scale meta-analysis relating the Hare measures of psychopathy to antisocial conduct. Law Hum Behav. 2008;32:28–45. - PubMed
    1. Walters GD. Predicting institutional adjustment and recidivism with the psychopathy checklist factor scores: a meta-analysis. Law Hum Behav. 2003;27:541–558. - PubMed
    1. Hemphill JF, et al. Psychopathy and recidivism: a review. Legal Criminol Psychol. 1998;3:139–170.
    1. Gretton H, et al. Psychopathy and recidivism in adolescent sex offenders. Crim Justice Behav. 2001;28:427–449.