Q

Best of Q: Neuroscientist meets the psychopath inside

Award winning scientist explains how his brain scan changed his stance on the nature vs. nurture debate.
James Fallon tells Jian he has never "snapped" - but doesn't rule it out as a possibility. (iStock)

James Fallon -- an award winning neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine -- was flipping through the brain scans of family members for an Alzheimer's study when he made an alarming discovery: one of them had all the tell-tale markers of a psychopathic mind. 

Fallon soon discovered that the aberrant brain in his family was his own. 

Jian speaks to Fallon about how he has curbed his psychopathic tendencies, what he's learned about his family's past, and why (despite the possible stigma and rejection) he decided to open up about the way he's wired. 

The neuroscientist has written a book about this personally-relevant area of research: The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain.

Original show aired Dec. 10, 2013