Two researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have developed a mathematical model based on the behavior of a serial killer, the Ukrainian Andrei Chikatilo, arrested on November 20, 1990, who confessed to 56 murders over the course of 12 years, and was executed in 1994.
Analyzing their crimes, the mathematicians observed that they followed a pattern that in mathematics is known as “Devil’s Ladder”. Specifically, behind each crime committed by Chikatilo there would be a psychotic outbreak, which arises from the simultaneous activation of several neurons in the brain. The authorscompare the activation of neurons to the operation of a gunOnce a neuron is turned on it cannot fire again until it has been recharged, a time known as the refractory period. “That is why there are long intervals of time between one murder and the next”, clarify Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury. On the other hand, each neuron is connected to thousands of other neurons, which it activates if they are also ready to “fire.” And that is when the serial killer feels the “need” to kill.
The study suggests that such a criminal only perpetrates a murder after a certain period of time has elapsed since the previous neuronal arousal. In addition, he points out that murder has a sedative effect on whoever commits it, causing neural activity to fall below the threshold of arousal.
To reach this conclusion, the mathematicians used a model in which they used a period of 2 milliseconds as the basic time step, the approximate time between two firings of a real neuron. And they simulated about 100,000 million steps, equivalent to about 12 years, which is the period in which Chikatilo was active. The results are almost identical to the actual murder distribution for Chikatilo, confirming the validity of the new model.
