Human qualities can be corrected using complex physical effects on the brain, scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles are sure, who, in particular, were able to experimentally increase the degree of altruism. Scientists hope that with the help of the technique they have developed, in the future it will be possible to successfully restore the psyche of people who have gone through difficult trials, for example, military operations, and have partially lost the ability to empathize.
The results of a series of experiments were published in the scientific journals Social Neuroscience and Human Brain Mapping. In the first experiment, participants were shown a video of a person being hurt by piercing their hand with a needle, and were shown pictures of people depicting a variety of emotions that needed to be repeated. At the same time, the brains of the subjects were scanned using MRI. Scientists were especially interested in the amygdala, the somatosensory cortex and the anterior insula - the departments responsible for experiencing pain and emotions, as well as their imitation. In addition, an area of the prefrontal cortex associated with control of behavior and emotionality was scanned.
Then, the participants in the experiment played a standard game for psychological experiments, where it was necessary to share money between themselves and other players. Scientists, at the same time, observed which parts of the brain are responsible for altruistic or selfish behavior. It turned out that altruism is associated with the activity of the brain cluster responsible for pain and emotions. In contrast, the prefrontal cortex, which controls behavior, was active in making selfish decisions. When scientists tried to suppress the activity of the prefrontal cortex with magnetic stimulation, the subjects, accordingly, began to behave more altruistically and show more generosity.