Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Brain scans can reveal whether you're kind or cruel

Scimex: Korean and Swiss scientists scanned the brains of people performing a task that allowed them to choose between being kind and being selfish. They noticed selfish brains have very little crossover in two brain areas associated with feelings about the self and others, whereas the two areas are somewhat blended in kinder brains. The results suggest brain scans could be used to assess whether a person is cruel or kind, they say. A study of 26 people performing a prosocial learning task finds a spatial gradient of activity in the medial prefrontal cortex area of the brain, with segregated activity between regions representing regard for self and others in people who acted selfishly, and overlapping representations of regard for self and others in people who acted prosocially.