Based on fMRI data, psychopaths experience decreased neural activity in paralimbic regions of the brain. This is interesting because those areas are important for moral reasoning, affective memory, and inhibition — all of which are challenges faced by psychopaths. Further experiments showed that the psychopathic brain is deficient in areas important for moral judgment. More specifically:
- recognizing moral issues;
- inhibiting a response before the issue is resolved;
- making a decision about moral issue.

Using fMRIs to detect neurological differences in the functioning brain

Additionally, a study done by Adrian Raine and his colleagues found that psychopaths that were caught had decreased gray matter, increased white matter, and fewer neurons in the frontal lobe caused by defects. However, fMRI studies have shown that other areas of the brain are more strongly linked to psychopathy than the frontal lobe.

Tulane University

Based on earlier studies, researchers used to believe that one of the many roots of psychopathy are defects in the brain’s frontal cortex — especially in areas associated with reasoning and executive control. For example, one study published by scholar Antonio Damasio and his colleagues found that some cases of lesions to areas of the frontal lobe led to psychopathic behaviors.

Neurological differences found in the brains of psychopaths based on static images

Kiehl, K. A., & Hoffman, M. B. (2011). THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATH: HISTORY, NEUROSCIENCE, TREATMENT, AND ECONOMICS. Jurimetrics, 51, 355–397.

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