The Brains of Serial Killers with Dr. James Fallon

Dr. James Fallon joins Crime Time to talk about the neuroscience that sets a psychopath’s apart from other brains. He talks about the testing that is done to see the neurological patterns of serial killers, how those are distinguished from “normal” people, and what can be done with the information.

Guest Bio

James Fallon, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine where he is also a professor of psychiatry and human behavior. His research has delved into adult stem cells, chemical neuroanatomy and circuitry, higher brain functions, and brain imaging. He studies the neuroscience of schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, he has studied the brain activity, psychology and genetics of psychiatric patients and the brain scans of psychopathic serial killers. He is a Senior Fulbright Fellow, a National Institutes of Health Career Awardee, and sits on several corporate boards and national think tanks for science, biotechnology, the arts, and the US military.

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Episode Breakdown

00:01 Welcome to Crime Time.
01:59 The warrior gene and lack of caring.
04:14 Looking at schizophrenia compared to psycho killers.
07:51 Testing the neural responses from killers.
11:40 Identifying psychopaths in the making.
15:47 Grading psychopathy in dimensionality.
19:20 Assessing Eli Roth’s brain.
20:39 The higher functions of a psychopath’s brain.
21:30 Reading people’s scans and assessing traits.
26:40 Using genetic disposition to debate culpability.
30:40 The death penalty and psychopaths.
35:28 Compulsive killers vs. serial killers.
41:10 What do all these different types add up to?
49:45 Assessing soldiers in the military.