mwc Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Link to the full paper is here (this is a pay article if you want the full thing). Here's the tease: Altruism is associated with an increased neural response to agency Although the neural mechanisms underlying altruism remain unknown, empathy and its component abilities, such as the perception of the actions and intentions of others, have been proposed as key contributors. Tasks requiring the perception of agency activate the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC), particularly in the right hemisphere. Here, we demonstrate that differential activation of the human pSTC during action perception versus action performance predicts self-reported altruism. Then there's the article at the BBC: Altruism - the tendency to help others without obvious benefit to oneself - appears to be linked to an area called the posterior superior temporal sulcus. Using brain scans, the US investigators found this region related to a person's real-life unselfish behaviour. The Duke University Medical Center study on 45 volunteers is published in Nature Neuroscience. Selfless tendencies The participants were asked to disclose how often they engaged in different helping behaviours, such as doing charity work, and were also asked to play a computer game designed to measure altruism. The study authors say their work could have important implications. They are now exploring ways to study the development of this brain region in early life and believe such information may help determine how altruistic tendencies are established. Researcher Dr Scott Huettel explained: "Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Theresa, it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviours like altruism." Reciprocal helping Dr George Fieldman, member of the British Psychological Society and principal lecturer in psychology at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, said it was conceivable that there would be a region of the brain involved with altruism. He added: "If you can educate from an early stage to be more altruistic that would be good for the community, and if you could also show that had an impact on brain development that would be very interesting." He said true altruism was a rare or even intangible thing. "Altruism is usually reciprocal - you do something for someone and you expect something back ultimately. "The other types are kin altruism, giving to ones relatives, and being cheated or cuckolded." He said it would be interesting to study people at the extremes of altruism and selfishness and see if their brains differed significantly. Funny how it looks like research shows that this is yet another thing that is not "handed down from on high." Guess it's not jesus/the spirit in action after all. Sorry for the false alarm. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Didn't ya know? Jebus created that part in the brain, and evil people they commit supernatural lobotomy on themselves because of their sinful nature and deserve Hell for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Hans! You've been missed! I'm so glad to see you back at Ex-C. It wasn't the same without you. Taph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Hi Taph! The site wasn't the same without me? Of course not! I bet it was less disorganized and less disoriented when I was gone. But I'm back... no more vacation for you guys... hehe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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