Brain Scans show pattern in violent behavior

Murderers and other people prone to violence have distinct brain patterns that can be scanned and that might be changed with drugs and other therapies, researchers said. Most people's brain can rein in overreaction to emotions such as fear or anger. But in pathologically violent people, this control system gets short-circuited. Several studies have shown this rewiring can be seen in images such as PET(positron emission tomography) scans. "Impulsive,affective aggression may be the …

…good reason to expect that these treatments may, in fact, have beneficial consequences," he said in a statement. Meanwhile, a second report in Science suggested that aggression is not always bad. Frans de Waal of the yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta said sometimes conflict led to closer relationships by letting peole literally kiss and make-up. For example, chimpanzees kiss and embrace after fight, and other nonhuman primates engage in similar reconciliations,"he wrote.