brainwave
Jedi Master
Activation of brain region found to predict altruism
Jan. 21, 2005
Courtesy Duke University Medical Center
and World Science staff
Researchers say they have found that activation of a particular brain region predicts whether people tend to be selfish or altruistic.
Figuring out how this brain area works “may give clues to the origins of important social behaviors like altruism,� said Scott A. Huettel, a neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., though he added, it “may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa.�
Volunteers clean a park. (Courtesy King County DNR, Wash.)
The study, by Huettel and others, is to appear in today’s advance online edition and the February print issue of the research journal Nature Neuroscience.
In 2005, researchers reported seeing the effects of empathy in the brain: its “pain� centers awakening in response to someone else’s suffering. Yet it’s unclear how altruism—the desire to help—takes root, according to Dharol Tankersley, a graduate student in Huettel’s lab and lead investigator in the new study.
His team scanned 45 people’s brains while they either played a computer game or watched the machine play it on its own. Either way, successful playing earned money for a charity of the participant’s choice.
The researchers scanned the participants’ brains using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, which uses magnetic pulses to measure changes in oxygen levels that indicate brain cell activity.
The scans revealed that a region of the brain called the posterior superior temporal sulcus was activated more when people perceived an action—that is, when they watched the computer play—than when they acted themselves, Tankersley said. This region, which lies in the top and back portion of the brain, is generally activated when the mind is trying to figure out social relationships.
The researchers then characterized the participants as more or less altruistic, based on their responses to questions about how often they engaged in different helping behaviors, and compared the participants’ brain scans with their estimated level of altruistic behavior. The scans showed that increased activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus strongly predicted a person’s likelihood for altruistic behavior, they said.
According to the researchers, the results suggest that altruistic behavior may originate from how people view the world, rather than how they act in it. Altruism seems to depend on an ability to perceive others’ actions as “meaningful,� Tankersley said.
The scientists suggest that studying the brain systems that allow people to see the world as a series of meaningful interactions may ultimately help further understanding of disorders, such as autism or antisocial behavior, characterized by deficits in interpersonal interactions. The researchers are now exploring ways to study the development of this brain region early in life, Tankersley said, adding that such information may help determine how the tendencies toward altruism develop.
http://www(dot)world-science (dot)net/othernews/070121_altruism(dot)htm
Jan. 21, 2005
Courtesy Duke University Medical Center
and World Science staff
Researchers say they have found that activation of a particular brain region predicts whether people tend to be selfish or altruistic.
Figuring out how this brain area works “may give clues to the origins of important social behaviors like altruism,� said Scott A. Huettel, a neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., though he added, it “may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa.�
Volunteers clean a park. (Courtesy King County DNR, Wash.)
The study, by Huettel and others, is to appear in today’s advance online edition and the February print issue of the research journal Nature Neuroscience.
In 2005, researchers reported seeing the effects of empathy in the brain: its “pain� centers awakening in response to someone else’s suffering. Yet it’s unclear how altruism—the desire to help—takes root, according to Dharol Tankersley, a graduate student in Huettel’s lab and lead investigator in the new study.
His team scanned 45 people’s brains while they either played a computer game or watched the machine play it on its own. Either way, successful playing earned money for a charity of the participant’s choice.
The researchers scanned the participants’ brains using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, which uses magnetic pulses to measure changes in oxygen levels that indicate brain cell activity.
The scans revealed that a region of the brain called the posterior superior temporal sulcus was activated more when people perceived an action—that is, when they watched the computer play—than when they acted themselves, Tankersley said. This region, which lies in the top and back portion of the brain, is generally activated when the mind is trying to figure out social relationships.
The researchers then characterized the participants as more or less altruistic, based on their responses to questions about how often they engaged in different helping behaviors, and compared the participants’ brain scans with their estimated level of altruistic behavior. The scans showed that increased activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus strongly predicted a person’s likelihood for altruistic behavior, they said.
According to the researchers, the results suggest that altruistic behavior may originate from how people view the world, rather than how they act in it. Altruism seems to depend on an ability to perceive others’ actions as “meaningful,� Tankersley said.
The scientists suggest that studying the brain systems that allow people to see the world as a series of meaningful interactions may ultimately help further understanding of disorders, such as autism or antisocial behavior, characterized by deficits in interpersonal interactions. The researchers are now exploring ways to study the development of this brain region early in life, Tankersley said, adding that such information may help determine how the tendencies toward altruism develop.
http://www(dot)world-science (dot)net/othernews/070121_altruism(dot)htm
