My friend Julie has become quite the expert on the inner workings of the brain. She has been to neuropyschiatrist Daniel Amen’s clinic and has an incredible working knowledge of various parts of the brain and how they function. While I loved neurology in veterinary school, we didn’t get much into “executive functions” of the brain (prefrontal cortex) or the limbic system (emotional center of the brain.) While I am certain there were genetic influences on dogs’ behavior, mostly if they were mean it was because they were abused or allowed to be inappropriately aggressive. There were some exceptions to that, however: I found most Chows to be inordinately aggressive and they were often that way as puppies. Ask any vet and they will tell you to be far more wary of Chows than Pit Bulls or Rottweilers. There must be some genetics at work there, in my unscientific opinion.


The Newsweek article, in their attempt to understand what makes a mass murderer, cited research done by Adrian Raine of the University of Southern California. Raine classifies killers as either proactive or reactive. Proactive killers kill to achieve a planned goal such as robbery, and their brain-activity patterns mimic those of nonviolent volunteers. Reactive killers, on the other hand, kill in response to some insult or emotional injury—either real or imagined. Their brain-activity patterns show a marked decrease in executive function—judgment, planning, abstract reasoning, self-monitoring, and the inhibition of inappropriate or impulsive behavior. Raine says, “This is the part of the brain that says, ‘Let’s stop and think about this again.’”


Daniel Amen is quoted in the article as stating that “empathy will be off” if there is low prefrontal cortex activity. Dr. Amen studied the brain of Kip Kinkel who killed his parents and shot many of his classmates when he was 15 years old. Speaking in reference to the Virginia Tech shooter, Amen says, “How do you kill 32 people and have any kind of empathy? That's highly associated with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex."


This can be scary stuff for folks that have scary kids, right?

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