Latest news with #brainstructure
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Chilling discovery exposes tiny differences between psychopaths and ordinary people
Scientists have discovered what really separates a cold-blooded psychopath from the average person. A team from the University of Pennsylvania has uncovered stark differences in brain structure that may explain why psychopaths think, feel, and behave in profoundly disturbing ways. Using MRI scans, researchers compared the brains of 39 adult men with high psychopathy scores to those of a control group, and what they found was unsettling. In psychopaths, researchers found shrunken areas in the basal ganglia, which controls movement and learning, the thalamus, the body's sensory relay station, and the cerebellum, which helps coordinate motor function. But the most striking changes were found in the orbitofrontal cortex and insular regions, areas that govern emotional regulation, impulse control, and social behavior. In other words, the parts of the brain that keep most people from lying, lashing out or harming others were noticeably compromised. 'These are the very traits psychopaths struggle with,' the researchers explained. However, the scan also revealed weaker connections between brain regions tied to empathy, guilt, and moral reasoning, suggesting that the callous behavior of psychopaths may not just be a personality issue, but is deeply rooted in neural wiring. While some traits, like deception and manipulation, are likely shaped by life experience, the physical brain differences point to a biological foundation for why psychopaths act the way they do. And that, scientists say, could help unlock new ways to identify, and possibly treat, individuals at risk of extreme antisocial behavior. The research, published in European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, found noticeable impairments in the amygdala. This powerful region helps control fear, anger, and emotional recognition, the foundation for behaving like a socially functioning human being. When it's not working properly, the result isn't just mood swings, it's a total breakdown in how a person reads others and regulates their behavior. That disconnect can show up in chilling ways: Psychopaths often can't display emotions through facial expressions, making them appear cold, detached, or unnervingly shallow. Impulsive behaviors stem from the neurological abnormalities found in the study, which explained why less than one percent of the global population are psychopaths, but 20 percent of people in prison display psychopathic tendencies. According to the research, most people don't commit violent crimes, but 60 percent lie in casual conversation, 40 to 60 percent ignore traffic speed limits, and 10 percent have used illicit drugs. Past studies have even suggested that psychopaths may have a malfunctioning mirror neuron system, the part of the brain that helps us mimic and learn behavior by observing others. In other words, where most people would instinctively learn empathy by watching someone cry or suffer, a psychopath might feel nothing. Experts often avoid using the label outright, fearing the stigma it carries. Instead, psychologists use a detailed diagnostic tool known as the Psychopathy Checklist to assess traits and assign a score. Many diagnosed psychopaths don't end up in prison or treatment. They blend in. They learn how to mimic normal emotions, mask dangerous impulses, and move through society unnoticed. A study published in March found a disturbing sign that individuals may be psychopaths. Scientists have found a link between psychopathy and 'sadism' – deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering or humiliation on others. Examples of sadism include trolling people online, killing video game characters, killing bugs and even sticking pins on voodoo dolls. So if you engage in these sadistic behaviours – even if it's just making other people feel embarrassed online – you could be a psychopath. The experts, from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, warn that sadism might be more common than previously thought. In disturbing experiments, they found members of the public were more than willing to startle people and inflict harm on bugs. 'Sadistic pleasure, gratuitous enjoyment from inflicting pain on others, has devastating interpersonal and societal consequences,' the experts report. '[Our study] is the first to assess state sadism directed at both humans and animals.'
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scans Reveal What The Brains of Psychopaths Have in Common
Psychopaths share similarities in brain structure that differ to the rest of the population, a new study reveals, a discovery which could be crucial in developing our understanding of this personality disorder and how it might be treated. Led by researchers from the Research Center Jülich and RWTH Aachen University in Germany, the study compared brain scans of men diagnosed as psychopaths against brain scans from male volunteers without the condition. "Psychopathy is one of the greatest risk factors for serious and persistent violence," write the researchers in their published paper. "In order to detect its neurobiological substrates, we examined 39 male psychopathic subjects and matched controls using structural magnetic resonance imaging and the Psychopathy Check-List (PCL-R)." Related: The PCL-R combines interview results with professional assessments and official records to produce three scores: an overall score, a factor 1 score that measures interpersonal and emotional traits, and a factor 2 score that measures impulsive and antisocial behavior. While there were only slight differences in brain structure corresponding to factor 1 scores, when it came to factor 2, the researchers found significant reductions in certain brain regions among people who scored highly – including in the pons part of the brainstem, the thalamus, the basal ganglia, and the insular cortex. Research has shown these regions mediate control over involuntary actions, and are linked to emotional processing, interpreting sensory information, motivation, and decision making. In other words, these functions play a critical role in determining how we react to our environment. What's more, the brains of psychopathic subjects were found to be around 1.45 percent smaller than those of control subjects, on average. This is tricky to interpret, but might point to developmental problems in people classed as psychopaths. "The present results suggest that the behavioral disturbances that are captured by the PCL-R factor 2 are associated with volume deficits in regions which belong to frontal-subcortical circuits that could be involved in behavioral control," write the researchers. This is a relatively small-scale study with limited diversity of subjects, so further research will be needed to gather more data. The results imply antisocial and impulsive behaviors in those with psychopathic personalities could be heavily influenced by shared neurological characteristics. Future studies may also consider other possible reasons for these differences in brain structure – which could include drug abuse, for example, or traumatic experiences – to help identify cause and effect more clearly. The debate continues about exactly how to classify psychopathy, which typically manifests itself as a chronic lack of empathy, manipulative behavior, and a tendency to be impulsive and take risks. Although the level of psychopathy can vary from person to person, it can also lead to aggressive and violent actions, as the researchers behind this latest study point out – and with a better understanding of the condition, that might be something we can change. "In conclusion, these findings are compatible with the dimensionality of the PCL-R construct, and suggest a particularly strong association of antisocial behavior to smaller volumes in widespread subcortical-cortical brain regions," write the researchers. The research has been published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. First Step Towards an Artificial Human Genome Now Underway Nightmares Could Make You 3 Times More Likely Die Before 75 The Secret to Better Sleep Could Be As Simple As Eating More Fruit And Veggies
Sky News
14-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News
How working more than 52 hours a week may alter the structure of your brain
Working more than 52 hours a week may alter the structure of your brain, new research has found. Being "overworked" could affect the part of the brain linked with problem-solving and memory, as well as impacting mental health, the researchers found. The findings were published in the journal Occupational And Environmental Medicine and looked at the impact of overwork on specific regions in health workers who regularly clocked up more than 52 hours a week. Some 110 workers were included in the final analysis - of these, 32 worked excessive hours and 78 worked standard hours. Those working longer hours each were significantly younger, had spent less time in work and were more highly education than those doing standard hours, the study said. They used data including MRI scans to examine brain structure and found "overworked individuals exhibited significant changes in brain regions associated with executive function and emotional regulation". They also found planning and decision-making parts of the brain were affected. The researchers, including from Yonsei University in South Korea, said: "The results underscore the importance of addressing overwork as an occupational health concern and highlight the need for workplace policies that mitigate excessive working hours." Ruth Wilkinson, head of policy and public affairs at the charity the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said urgent action is needed to tackle "an epidemic of long working hours". "A long hours culture can be experienced in what we've identified as the 'small print' of working life today," she said. "This captures those hidden or unspoken expectations placed on top of workers' contracts. "It includes always having to be available/on duty in this digital age, stripped of the right to disconnect from work outside of normal working hours." A YouGov survey by the institution found nearly a quarter of UK workers regularly work more than the legal maximum number of hours (48 hours a week), while more than half said they regularly check work emails and messages outside of normal hours.
