Testosterone Influences Regulation of Emotional Behavior in the Brain of Psychopathic Offenders
Material below summarizes the article Testosterone Modulates Altered Prefrontal Control of Emotional Actions in Psychopathic Offenders, published on January 15, 2016, in eNeuro and authored by Inge Volman, Anna Katinka Louise von Borries, Berend Hendrik Bulten, Robbert Jan Verkes, Ivan Toni, and Karin Roelofs.
Brain research has demonstrated that psychopathic offenders exhibit reduced control over their emotional actions. Our group of researchers from University College London and Donders Institute at Radboud University discovered that the quantity of testosterone a person produces influences the parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions. The findings provide starting points for the treatment of psychopathic offenders.
We investigated a group of 15 psychopathic criminals in a joint research project with the Pompe Foundation for forensic psychiatry in the Netherlands. We were particularly interested in how the supply of testosterone influenced the regulation of emotional behavior.
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