The role of the amygdala in psychopathy
Group Members: Sayuri Sayakkara, Kelli Wallace, Michael Cupelli, Victoria Paukova, Lawrence Gleyzer (Ponti Seminar 3, 2020)
Our project titled “The role of the amygdala in psychopathy” explains how the functioning of the amygdala differs in people who demonstrate psychopathic traits. The amygdala is an area of the brain composed of two major components known as the basolateral and the centrocorticomedial complex, which is responsible for experiencing emotions. Our project focuses on the differences in amygdala network function and activity when demonstrating certain psychopathic traits in psychopathic brains compared to the brains of healthy individuals. Psychopathy is assessed in the sample participants using the PPI-R and the YPI assessment tests. The scores for certain psychopathic traits from these specific tests are analyzed to determine how strongly the participants demonstrate these traits. Furthermore, we connected the psychopathic traits of focus with brain scans in order to show our audience the brain activity of psychopaths when they display these specific traits. Overall, this topic is significant because the discussion of mental illness is frowned upon and this proves the importance of altering such beliefs since psychopathy is a disorder that can exist within the normal population. Even though the scientific community is not entirely confident in treating psychopathy, it is important to conduct future studies to determine treatment strategies that could be personalized for each individual.
