The Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA.
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2020 Oct;14(5):2050-2061. doi: 10.1007/s11682-019-00155-y.
Homicide is a significant societal problem with economic costs in the billions of dollars annually and incalculable emotional impact on victims and society. Despite this high burden, we know very little about the neuroscience of individuals who commit homicide. Here we examine brain gray matter differences in incarcerated adult males who have committed homicide (n = 203) compared to other non-homicide offenders (n = 605; total n = 808). Homicide offenders' show reduced gray matter in brain areas critical for behavioral control and social cognition compared with subsets of other violent and non-violent offenders. This demonstrates, for the first time, that unique brain abnormalities may distinguish offenders who kill from other serious violent offenders and non-violent antisocial individuals.
杀人是一个重大的社会问题，每年造成数十亿美元的经济损失，给受害者和社会带来难以估量的情感冲击。尽管负担如此沉重，但我们对实施杀人行为的个体的神经科学知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了与其他非杀人犯罪者（n=605；总 n=808）相比，被监禁的成年男性杀人者（n=203）的大脑灰质差异。杀人者的大脑区域的灰质明显减少，这些区域对行为控制和社会认知至关重要，而这些区域与其他暴力和非暴力犯罪者的子集有所不同。这首次表明，独特的大脑异常可能将杀人者与其他严重暴力犯罪者和非暴力反社会个体区分开来。
