The BBC News article “Psychopaths:
Born Evil or With a Diseased Brain?” is very much related to the lecture we
heard from Dr. Neumann of the University of Wisconsin. The article focuses on
Brian Dugan, a serial rapist and murderer, which was studied by Dr. Kent Kiehl,
a neuroscientist from the University of New Mexico. Dugan is a white, adult,
male prisoner, just like the prisoners that Dr. Neumann works with. Dugan was
convicted of many rapes and three murders, two of which were seven-year-old
girls. Even after being convicted and sentenced to death, Dugan showed no
regret for the crimes he had committed.
After research and testing, Dr.
Kiehl realized that the reason he committed these crimes might be because of
his lack of empathy. Dr. Neumann told us that psychopaths have reduced amygdala
activation and we know that the amygdala is responsible for emotional
processing. Scans of Dugan’s brain show that it “has very low levels of density
in a system we call the para-limbic system.” The para-limbic system includes
the amygdala and pre-frontal cortex. This is not different from the brain scans
of many other psychopathic prisoners Dr. Kiehl did all over the country.
Dr. Kiehl wants people to
understand that psychopathy is a mental disorder and that it should be treated
as such in the legal system. Also, he is trying to come up with ways to treat
children who show signs of psychopathy.
Dr. Neumann mentioned brain plasticity in his lecture and that it might
be a way to treat and prevent this disorder, especially in children. Dr. Kiehl is trying to design an
intervention for children with these symptoms because these children usually
react badly to the normal disciplines of bad behavior. According to Dr. Kiehl, “You
could prevent those individuals like Brian from ever developing and escalating
into the individual that he is today.”
Taylor, M. (2011, November 14). Psychopaths: Born evil or
with a diseased brain?.
Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15386740
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