Neuroscientist James Fallon was looking at brain scans of serial killers at the same time that he was also doing a study on Alzheimers and had brain scans from himself and members of his family on his desk. He discovered that the psychopathic brain pictured in a particular scan was his own. The fact that a person with the genes and brain of a psychopath could end up a non-violent, stable and successful scientist made Fallon reconsider the ambiguity of the term. Research shows that a serotonin transporter protein present in the brain put people at higher risk for psychopathic tendencies, but also opens up the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region to be more significantly affected by environmental influences such that a positive (or negative) childhood is especially pivotal in determining behavioral outcomes.