More and more in the news we hear about senseless acts
committed by serial killers and murderers. And we ask ourselves, how can a
human being even think about doing something so evil and harmful to another
human being? We question the intentions of these killers and try to figure out
what is going on inside their heads that could trigger such violent actions. Sadly, most of the time we aren’t able to question their intentions because most of these troubled
individuals end up committing suicide.
During the first couple weeks of Neuroscience Seminar, we had Brian Sweis come in and talk about research centering around the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). He explains
how humans with damage in this region do not experience regret and how fMRI
tests have shown functional activity in the OFC region during regret. However
in nonhuman primates, specifically rats, we are not sure if they are even
mentally capable of experiencing regret. A decision making task called
Restaurant Row was constructed where the rats were put in a series of take or
skip choices involving food. The data suggested that the OFC is indeed vital
for representing outcomes when animals think about past decisions. In the end,
we know that rats experience regret but we are still not clear if the orbitofrontal
cortex is necessary for the emotion of regret. However, there is evidence that
the orbitofrontal cortex is active and necessary for experiencing regret in
humans and damage to it results in no showing of regret and anticipation of
negative consequences. This led me to question if we can further our research
and perhaps find a connection between brains of serial killers and
orbitofrontal cortex damage. The orbitofrontal cortex, in my opinion, could be
the reason for the creation of serial killers and murderers when damaged.
An article I read called “How to spot a murderer’s brain” talks
about the brain patterns found between the minds of murderers. Adrian Raine is a scientist who has done
extensive research on the brains of serial killers. Like other scientist, he
too has noticed a distinct difference between the brains of normal people and
serial killers. The difference was found in the OFC or lack thereof. The OFC of
serial killers was significantly smaller or nonexistent. From the article, I
learned that deficiency in the OFC not only caused no feeling of regret but
other behaviors such as less control over the anger, an increased addiction to
risk, a loss of self-control, and poor problem solving skills. The article
changed my view on finding the definitive factor that makes up a killer, which
I thought would be damage to the OFC after hearing Brian Sweis’ findings. Yes,
damage or less activity in the orbitofrontal cortex can be indicative of a
serial killer, but there are several other factors other than biological
similarities that fall into the equation like poverty, bad neighborhoods, and poor education. Adrian Raine,
the scientist who was conducting the research, did a brain scan on himself and
found similarities of that of the brain of a killer. But you can see he turned
out to be fine. In the end, it goes back to the classic nature versus nurture
debate. We won’t be able to confirm what exactly brings forth the upcoming of a
killer. There are so many variables involved and really it matters how our
biological makeup reacts with the environment we live in.
Works Cited
Adams, Tim. "How to Spot a
Murderer's Brain." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 11 May 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.
Steiner, Adam P., and A. David Redish.
"Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Regret in Rat
Decision-making on a Neuroeconomic Task." Nature Neuroscience Nat Neurosci 17.7 (2014): 995-1002. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment