Meet the neuroscientist and married father of three who discovered he was a PSYCHOPATH after accidentally studying his own brain scans

University of California at Irvine professor James Fallon, 58, made the discovery in 2005 while going though PET scans of serial killers



Areas of his brain linked to empathy, morality and self-control are inactive like in brains of murderers



He is distant relative of Lizzie Borden, who was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892

Other relative is Thomas Cornell who became the first person in American colonies to be hanged for killing his mother in 1672

Shocking revelation: Award-winning neuroscientist James Fallon, 58, accidentally discovered that his brain bears striking similarities to those of serial killers while looking at PET scans for a study

Award-winning neuroscientist James Fallon was sitting in his office in October 2005 and rifling through PET scans of people suffering from severe psychiatric disorders when he came across the image showing a psychopath's brain - his own.

Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at University of California at Irvine, lived the first 58 years of his life thinking that he was a well-adjusted middle-aged man with a distinguished career in academia and a loving family.

Fallon had been raised by supportive parents, married his high school sweetheart, Diane, whom he had met at age 12, and had three children.

But then came that fateful afternoon in the fall of 2005, when Fallon learned a shocking truth about himself that would lead him to question his own identity.

That day, Fallon was going through thousands of brain scans as part of a research project on serial killers.

‘I was looking at many scans, scans of murderers mixed in with schizophrenics, depressives and other, normal brains,’ he told Smithsonian magazine.

As chance would have it, around the same time the neuroscientist was also involved in an Alzheimer’s study as part of which he had done PET scans of his own brain and the brains of his family.



Grey area: Compared to a control brain (top), Fallon's brain (bottom) shows decreased activity in areas of the frontal lobe linked to empathy and morality - patterns that have been linked with psychopathy

Standout: Brain imaging scans of Fallon and his family reveal that only one ¿ the professor's (far right) ¿ has large black areas indicating a low level of brain activity called orbital hypofrontality

Distinguished career: Fallon is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at University of California at Irvine

As he was reviewing the images in the Alzheimer’s project, he noticed one that was obviously pathological, showing low activity in parts of the brain responsible for empathy, morality and self-control – characteristics linked to criminal behavior.

Curious about the identity of the person whose brain was depicted in the scan, Fallon looked up the code of the image and discovered to his astonishment that the psychopathic brain was his.

Journey of self-discovery: Fallon wrote a new book called The Psychopath Inside seeking to explain how a happily married father of three could also be a psychopath

Rather than hiding the unsettling truth, professor Fallon went public with it, delivering a TED talk on the subject and sitting down to a lengthy interview with NPR.

The 58-year-old neuroscientist has since penned a new book called The Psychopath Inside, in which Fallon seeks to explain how a happily married father of three could also be a psychopath with the same genetic features that mass murders have been known to possess.

‘I’ve never killed anybody, or raped anyone,’ he said.



‘So the first thing I thought was that maybe my hypothesis was wrong, and that these brain areas are not reflective of psychopathy or murderous behavior.’

Mr Fallon then underwent a battery of genetic tests, which showed that he had an innate predisposition for aggression, violence and low empathy.

What sets him apart from a Charles Manson or a Ted Bundy, however, is that while he has difficulty feeling empathy for others, Fallon does not act on his aggressive tendencies.

In retrospect, the revelation that Fallon had a lot in common with homicidal maniacs did not come as a complete surprise: the 58-year-old professor happens to be a distant relative of at least seven alleged murderers.

The scientist is related to Thomas Cornell, who was hanged in 1673 for slaying his mother in the first case of matricide in the colonies, UC Irvine's online magazine, ZotZine, reported.



Family history: The scientist is a distant cousin of Lizzie Borden, who was acquitted in the grisly hatchet murders of her father and stepmother in 1892

Mr Fallon has an innate predisposition for aggression, violence and low empathy, but those qualities manifest themselves in him in extreme competitiveness and at times obnoxious antics

Fallon’s other infamous kin is Lizzie Borden, who was put on trial but acquitted in the grisly hatchet murders of her father and stepmother in 1892.

‘Mom's happy the killers are on my father's side of the family,’ Fallon quipped to ZotZine.

It is hard to define exactly what makes a person a psychopath. In fact, psychopathy has such a wide variety of symptoms that it does not even appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Fallon believes that thanks in large part to his upbringing and support from his extended family, he has been able to channel and damp down his innate psychopathic leanings.

‘I’m obnoxiously competitive. I won’t let my grandchildren win games. I’m kind of an a**hole, and I do jerky things that piss people off,’ he admitted.



‘But while I’m aggressive, my aggression is sublimated. I’d rather beat someone in an argument than beat them up.’

According to Fallon's theory, his ability not to act on his psychopathy is rooted in the unconditional love that his parents had given him.

Family matters: Fallon had been raised by supportive parents, married his high school sweetheart, Diane (pictured), who he had met at age 12, and had three children

Secret of his success: Fallon's theory is that his ability not to act on his psychopathy is rooted in the unconditional love that his parents had given him, steering him away from a dangerous path



The 58-year-old explained that his mother had had several miscarriages before finally welcoming him into the world, so to his parents he was a golden boy who was dotted upon.

‘I had a charmed childhood; I was never abused. No one's done anything bad enough to turn me into a killer,’ he said. ‘It shows that your genes are not a jail sentence.’

Around the time puberty hit, Fallon's parents noticed that the boy was starting to show some unsettling traits, and so the family rallied around him, he told NPR, steering the troubled adolescent away from a perilous path that potentially could have led him to an early grave or a prison cell.