Unveiling Criminal Minds: The Role of Neurobiology in Forensic Science

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The forensic world encompasses various techniques and sciences that help with solving crimes and understanding the mindset and action of criminals and their criminal acts. One of the most important sciences involved is Neuroscience, which can expand to include neurobiology and neuropsychiatric. The suffix neuro- in Latin refers to anything concerning nerves or the nervous system.

Neuroscience is the multifaceted science that deals with the study of the structure and function of the entire nervous system and how it affects and interacts with various other body systems and how it is affected by the outside environment of the individual.

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Neurobiology is a sub-discipline of neuroscience which concentrates on the study of cells within the nervous system and how these cells are organized into a well functioning circuit that processes information and behavior. In addition, neuropsychiatry is also a sub-discipline of neuroscience that consists of the study of mental diseases and illnesses, how to treat them, and which parts of the brain are specifically involved.

Once these sciences are involved in forensic science, a major field can be opened. This can help in the identification and understanding of underlying biological responses or triggers to specific emotions and behaviors. Such information can be used as evidence to help investigators understand the motives behind crimes and whether or not a person can be medically diagnosed as having mental illnesses that prevent them from acting the way an average human being with the right moral compass must act.

In this research paper, various methods of neurobiological testing in the field of forensic science will be discussed along with case studies to further illustrate their significance and success rates.

Other topics that will be discussed are the ways in which neuroscience and neurobiology help in forensic investigations and determining whether suspects, as well as witnesses, are competent enough to understand the consequences of their criminal actions, stand trial, understand events that they have witnessed and if they are able to interpret and represent information to police personnel reliably and without having a biased opinion or mindset.

A few of the several concepts of forensic psychology is to analyze the behavior of a criminal and determine the factors that create the criminal act and how these factors are triggered by emotions and impulses that can be studied by examining the chemicals and inner workings of the human brain. Investigators and psychologists worldwide use neurobiology along with forensic psychology to understand how the brain and body operate in sync and why people commit certain criminal acts, both minor and serious. It can also help find methods to prevent criminal acts or detect signs of criminal behavior and prevent them from manifesting within the subject before they engage in criminal behavior and activity.

There are many emotions that affect our daily lives and decision making. However, some people may face some mental dysfunction that affects their emotions which in turn compromises their sense of right and wrong. For instance, an average human experiences the emotion known as Empathy, which is essential to the proper treatment of other humans in social interactions. Empathy is the ability to understand, feel and consider other people’s emotions and situations and, somehow, put themselves in other people’s shoes. However, some people lack this emotion entirely, and thus, they cannot comprehend other people’s feelings in certain situations. In all possible scenarios, this lack of empathy is a bad thing.

In minor circumstances, it might just harm the feelings of the other person and hurt them emotionally. An example would be if two people were arguing and person A spits out words that they might not think to be harmful to person B because they don’t empathize with them or their feelings. Person A’s complete disregard for person B’s emotions makes person A seem like an egocentric person and harms person B’s feelings.

In major circumstances, it could threaten the safety and life of the other person or victim. An example could be when a serial killer kills people to satisfy his urges, whatever they may be. In these circumstances, the serial killer lacks empathy for their victims and does not care about their victims’ feelings, safety, life, or wellbeing in general to the point that they would endanger their victims’ life just so they get what they want.

People who lack the ability to feel empathy towards others are commonly classified as psychopaths, which is one of the many classes of criminals that forensic psychologists, and investigators alike, look for and try to treat and prevent them from killing people before they commit serious crimes such as murder. This mental dysfunction could be directly linked to cerebral dysfunction which can be detected by the examination of the central nervous system along with the brain and its four lobes. The four lobes of the brain include the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe. Each lobe is responsible for certain everyday human functions in addition to the release of chemicals that determine our emotions.

These emotions are the primary target for understanding in criminal forensic investigation and determining if a subject is mentally stable. The emotion of empathy can be detected through neurobiological testing. There are two parts of the brain that are responsible for maintaining the feeling of empathy: The Right Supramarginal Gyrus and the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC). The Right Supramarginal Gyrus is a conjunction of the cerebral cortex of the brain and is located at the ruction of 3 lobes: the parietal, temporal and frontal lobe. It is located more towards the front of the brain. The Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC) is located in the frontal lobe at the bottom of the central hemisphere. Several studies were performed on the brain, or more precisely, the brain activity of a psychopath.

As seen in the photograph above, there are 2 sets of brain scans: one for an average human being and the other for a psychopath. The brain scans of the psychopath show a decrease in neural activity in the regions of the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is responsible for feelings of fear and anxiety. A lack of those feelings could make the psychopath negligent of country laws and unafraid of the punishment they might suffer in the hands of law enforcement and the justice system. Having a lack of anxiety could also cause the psychopath to think themselves to be above the law and act as if the police can never catch them, making them up their game, engage in more serious crimes, and view his criminal acts like a game of “catch me if you can”. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain is responsible for empathy and guilt.

A lack of those emotions could compromise the lives of innocent people if the psychopath becomes violent. The reason is that empathy and guilt cause us to consider the emotions and wellbeing of other people, and when people such as psychopaths lack those emotions they would not feel guilty for harming or even killing other people for their own gain. Thus, they would not feel that what they are doing is wrong or immoral and they would continue to engage in criminal activities without regard to the law or the lives of the people involved.

Several methods of neurobiological testing can be used to aid in forensic investigations and can be performed on suspects or criminals charged with breaking a law. Some of these tests involve the suspect or charged criminal answering a questionnaire, survey, or interview without being monitored biologically. This is not entirely the best way to get accurate results because the suspect of charged criminal might answer in a way that pleases the test conductor or investigator or in a way that is socially acceptable in order to avoid embarrassment.

The suspect or convict may also answer in a way that lowers their sentence and allows them to spend less time in prison if not at all. They could do so by pretending or making it seem as if they are incompetent or mentally dysfunctional, thus, granting them a lesser sentence in prison or escaping prisons entirely and being submitted into correctional facilities, mental health facilities, to psychiatric wards. However, neurobiological tests such as positron emission tomography scans, electroencephalography tests, and functional magnetic resonance imaging tests allow the neurologist or investigator to conduct the tests without giving the suspect or criminal the opportunity to interrupt or compromise the results to their will and deceive the investigators.

The brain scans above were taken using a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan. A positron emission tomography (PET) is a combination of nuclear medicine and biochemical analysis imaging procedure that measures important activities that are occurring in your body such as the metabolic activity found within the cells of the body, the blood flow in your body, how much oxygen is being used, how much sugar is being used by your body, and many more. The metabolism is the conversion of food into an energy source that cells are able to use to carry out life processes. The positron emission tomography is used with regards to patients with

Rocha, R., 2014. Improvements In PET/CT Systems. [online] Imaging Technology News. Available at: [Accessed 29 March 2020]. heart or brain problems or even those who are diagnosed with cancer or are thought to have cancer and can also be used if your doctor wants to scan your body for any diseases or abnormalities. This procedure is done using a special dye that contains radiopharmaceutical or radioactive tracers that can be administered into the body either by swallowing, injecting, or inhaling depending on what part of the body is to be subjected to the positron emission tomography scan. If a patient is undergoing a brain positron emission tomography scan, they will have the radioactive tracers injected into their bloodstream through an intravenous catheter (IV) into their arm.

These radioactive tracers will travel to the parts of the body that contain a high amount of chemical activity which aids in highlighting specific areas to be examined by the doctor or neurologist. When the brain is being examined by the positron emission tomography, the radioactive tracers often attach themselves to glucose which is the fuel of the brain or any biochemical neural activity which is why the most common radioactive tracers used for brain scans are known as F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Thus, once the positron emission tomography scans are complete, the neurologist will be able to know which parts of the brain are using glucose at very high rates and can examine if all parts of the brain are functioning properly.

A few other useful neurobiological testing methods that aid in criminal and forensic investigations are electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI). An electroencephalography (EEG) is a neurobiological test that is used to examine the electrical activity in the brain and records and tracks the brain wave patterns by evaluating the electrical impulses that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with one another.

This test is performed by neurologists and brain surgeons to determine is the brain if functioning properly and to assess whether there are any abnormalities or disorders in the brain. It can also be used to monitor the brain wave patterns and neural activity of a person in a coma or a patient who is undergoing brain surgery. An electroencephalography (EEG) test is done by connecting an average of 16 to 25 small electrodes with wires using a slightly sticky adhesive to different regions on the scalp of the patient or test subject. A paste known as a conductive gel will be rubbed unto the scalp of the patient to ensure that the electrodes receive a strong signal and that the results are accurate.

These electrodes will analyze the brain wave patterns and electrical impulses that occur within the brain and will send the results digitally to the device, often a computer, that is connected to the electrodes and that measures and records brain wave patterns or activity. The machine or device will then begin to convert or decode the electrical impulses received from the electrodes into visual patterns that can be analyzed by the neurologist or investigator.

The results of the electroencephalography (EEG) test will appear as wavy patterns or lines with a series of differentiating valleys and peaks that represent neural activity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is another technique used to measure neural activity. It is used to check or assess for any brain damage or mental dysfunction that may cause seizures, strokes, or aneurysms and can be used as a precautionary test before a patient is due to undergo brain surgery.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures the amount of blood flow that travels to a specific region of the brain that needs more oxygen in order to function properly and tracks which parts of the brain are used in specific activities or mental processes. Before performing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, the patient will be administered a contrast solution, known as gadolinium, through an intravenous catheter (IV) that allows the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine to view specific regions of the brain more clearly, especially the patient’s blood vessels. The results will then be reviewed by a radiologist or neurologist.

It has been said that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans are more reliable and accurate than the standard polygraph tests. However, for now, although an fMRI is preferable over a polygraph and is better at lie detection, it could never be admissible in court as evidence alone. When it comes to neurobiological tests, the court cannot rely solely on one test to prove innocence or guilt. These tests are only helpful when they are able to corroborate the evidence found and collected throughout the investigation along with witness testimonies.

As mentioned previously, all these neurobiological tests are very helpful in understanding criminal behavior and what motivates them and analyzing and determining the genuineness of the mental state the suspect or criminal is in. It also allows for neurologists and psychologists to figure out how to treat those who are mentally dysfunctional and try to detect violent and criminal tendencies in patients and prevent them from engaging in dangerous criminal behavior.

A study was done in 2005 by a scientist called Kozel that involved a laboratory stimulated crime which was created to examine the neural processes that occurred when the participants enacted in the stimulated crime. In that study, the participants were asked to attempt to steal a watch and hide it in a locker with other belongings of theirs. If they were able to keep the theft a secret from the investigators, they would be rewarded 50 dollars in cash.

After they had performed the theft, they were interrogated by the investigators with the help of a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine in which the participant was placed inside. As the participants were answering the questions that they were being asked, the scientist was analyzing their brain scans through the results of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The scientist realized that the was an increase in brain activity in the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

These parts of the brain are involved in empathy, impulse control, decision making, predicting the consequences of one's actions, and inhibiting inappropriate responses. High neuronal activity within these regions of the brain is also involved in the art of deception which proves that the participants were trying to deceive the investigator in thinking that they were innocent. Thus, even though the participants were trying to hide the truth from the investigators, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine was still able to prove their guilt using neurobiological testing.

In conclusion, these various neurobiological testing methods along with the science of forensic psychology could immensely be of use to law enforcement and forensic investigation. All types of neurobiological tests, ranging from positron emission tomography scans (PET) to electroencephalography (EEG) tests to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), will be helpful in conjunction with other pieces of evidence and witness statements in solving crimes, understanding criminals, their behavior and their motives, detecting abnormal and antisocial behavior in patients, preventing criminal behavior in patients, and treatment of those diagnosed with mental illnesses.