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.
