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A new study by researchers at UCLA looked at altruism in the
human brain. The researchers, Leonardo Christov-Moore and Marco Iacoboni, found
that altruism may be more hard-wired in the brain than previously believed.
The first study had 20 participants. The participants were
shown a video of a hand being poked with a pin and then they were asked to
imitate photographs of faces displaying a range of emotions - happy, sad,
angry, and excited. The researchers scanned participants' brains with
functional MRIs, noting which areas showed activity.
The MRIs showed activity in the amygdala, associated with
experiencing emotion and pain as well as the prefrontal cortex, which is
responsible for regulating behavior and controlling impulses. Image credit
In the second activity of this study participants played the
dictator game. This game is used to study decision-making: each participant is
given a certain amount of money to keep for themselves or share with a
stranger. After each participant had completed the game, researchers compared
their payouts with brain scans.
Participants who showed the strongest responses in the areas
of the brain associated with perceiving pain and emotion were the most generous,
giving away an average of 75 percent of their money. "Researchers referred to
this tendency as 'prosocial resonance' or mirroring impulse, and they believe
the impulse to be a primary driving force behind altruism."
The second study had 58 participants. Each was subjected to
40 seconds of a noninvasive procedure which temporarily dampens activity in
specific regions of the brain. Twenty participants were in the control group
and others had either the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or the dorsomedial
prefrontal cortex dampened. Combined, this blocks impulses of all varieties.
According to Chistov-Moore, "if people really were
inherently selfish, weakening those areas of the brain would free people to act
more selfishly." In fact, though, the participants with disrupted activity in
the brain's impulse control center were 50 percent more generous than members
of the control group.
This demonstrates that lessening the activity of these areas
frees an individual's ability to feel for others.
Another interesting note was that the recipient of the
generosity changed based on which part of the brain was altered. Participants
whose dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was dampened were more generous overall but
those whose dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was dampened tended to give more
money to recipients with higher incomes - people who appeared to be less in
need of a handout.
This may be because with that area of the brain dampened,
participants temporarily lost the ability for social judgments to affect their
behavior.
The findings of both studies suggest potential avenues for
increasing empathy, which is especially critical in treating people who have
experienced desensitizing situations like prison or war.
University of California - Los Angeles.
"Your brain might be hard-wired for altruism: Neuroscience research
suggests an avenue for treating the empathically challenged."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160318102101.htm>.
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Re: Is Altruism Predetermined?
