BEIJING,
Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Neuroscientists in U.S. have found the brain's
"charity spot" -- a piece of the brain linked to perceiving others'
intentions -- shows more activity in unselfish vs. selfish types, media reported
on Tuesday.
"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,"
said study author Scott Huettel, an associate professor of psychology at
Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C.
He and his colleagues published their findings
in Sunday's online issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Experts generally note that altruism doesn't seem to
provide individuals with any survival edge, so how and why does it evolve?
To help solve that puzzle, Heuttel's team gave the
study participants various games to play, and told them that winning could
earn cash for either themselves or for a charity.
The researchers used high-tech functional MRI (fMRI) to
observe "hot spots" of activity in the participants' brains as they engaged in
these tasks.
Participants were also asked to complete a
questionnaire aimed at assessing their personal levels of selfishness or
altruism.
They reacted differently depending on whether they won for
themselves or for a charity.
During the experiment the most charitable people showed
the most activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus, which is normally
linked to processing incoming information, sorting out social relationships and
controlling movement.
Huettel said he was surprised by
the study results. "We went into this experiment with the idea that
altruism was really a function of the brain's reward systems -- altruistic
people would simply find it more rewarding," he said. (Agencies)
