“In the present study, both resting-state EEG activity and electrodermal activity were measured while severe criminals with psychopathy participated in tasks of self-regulation with neurofeedback. In such tasks, individuals are presented with a visual indicator of their brainwaves, and can thus train themselves to reliably increase or decrease the appearance of certain types.
These kinds of tasks have been used to study and even partially treat problems like ADHD, epilepsy and OCD by retraining the brain over a period of time.
The results of the study show that severe criminals with psychopathy were able to modulate their brain activity voluntarily. “Our results indicate that resting EEG patterns do change after EEG neurofeedback training, in terms of a significant reduction of slow frequency,” write the authors. Skin conductance was similarly affected, demonstrating that the effects of the training extended to the peripheral nervous system.”