SarahKrahn

neurosciencestuff: The Moral Brain Consider a failed murder...

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:37:36 -0400

The Moral Brain

Consider a failed murder attempt. Or a simple mistake that causes another to die. Is one of these more acceptable than the other?

Neuroscientists don’t pretend to hold the answers as to how people know what is right and what is wrong. But studies show individual biology may influence the ways people process the actions of others.

It turns out we judge others not only for what they do, but also for what we perceive they are thinking while they do it.

Consider the following scenario: Grace and Sally are touring a chemical factory when Grace decides to grab a cup of coffee. Sally asks Grace to pour her a cup as well. Grace spots a container of white powder next to the coffee maker and, knowing that her friend takes sugar in her coffee, she pours some into Sally’s cup. As it turns out, the powder is poison, and Sally dies after a few sips.

Most of us would understand and maybe forgive Grace for accidentally poisoning — or even killing — her friend. But what would you think of Grace if you were to learn that she had a hunch that the powder was toxic, yet decided to add it to her friend’s cup anyway?

“Often, what determines moral blame is not what the outcome is, but what [we think] is going on in the mind of the person performing the act,” says Rebecca Saxe, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies how the brain casts judgment.

Scientists are learning the ways the brain responds when we attempt to determine right from wrong. Ultimately, they hope such information will help show how the brain processes difficult situations.

What was she thinking?

One way scientists study how we make right-or-wrong judgments is to look at brain regions that are most active when people attempt to interpret the thoughts of others.

In some studies, participants read stories about characters that either accidentally or intentionally cause harm to others while scientists use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track how brain activity changes. Such studies show that thinking about another’s thoughts increases the activity of nerve cells in a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction located behind the right ear.

As it turns out, some of these cells respond differently when presented with an intentional harm versus an accident. By zeroing in on the distinct patterns of activity in these cells, Saxe’s group discovered that they could accurately predict how forgiving the participants would be.

“People who say accidents are forgivable have really different [activity] patterns” than those less willing to overlook the unintentional harm, Saxe says.

Thinking about harm

Neuroscientists also study how people respond when asked how they themselves would act in morally challenging scenarios.

In one popular moral dilemma scenario, scientists ask participants to imagine the following: A runaway train is barreling down on five people. The only way to save these people is to hit a switch that would redirect the train onto tracks where it will kill only one person. Would you hit the switch?

What if, instead, you had to push a man off of a bridge to stop the train, knowing that doing so will kill him but save the lives of the others?

Studies ran these scenarios by people with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex — a region believed to be involved in the processing of emotions — and those without damage. Both groups equally support the decision to hit the switch to redirect the train to save more lives.

However, those with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex are much more likely to endorse pushing the man in front of the train, a more direct and personal harm. These studies, led by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio of the University of Southern California, suggest the important role of emotion in the generation of such judgments.

To test how important the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is when we judge the actions of others, Damasio along with neuroscientist Liane Young of Boston asked a small group of people with damage to this region to evaluate variations of the Grace and Sally story.

When told that Grace deliberately puts powder she believes is toxic into Sally’s cup, only to later learn the powder was sugar, healthy adults regularly condemn Grace’s failed attempt to harm her friend. However, people with ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage shrug off Grace’s action. As they see it, as long as Sally survives, Grace’s actions are no big deal.

Damasio says these results, along with others, reveal the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and emotion in evaluating harmful intent.

That’s not fair

There is also evidence that changes in the chemistry of the brain influence how we behave when others treat us unfairly.

To measure how changes in brain chemistry affect people’s reactions to unfairness, University College London neuroscientist Molly Crockett and others gave study participants a drink to drive down levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain before asking them to play the ultimatum game.

In the ultimatum game, participants are paired with strangers they are told have been given a lump sum of money to share with them. The stranger determines how to divvy up the money, and proposes a split to the participant. The participant decides whether or not to accept the stranger’s offer. If the participant accepts, both players walk away with some money. However, a participant may reject the offer, believing it to be unfair, leaving both players empty-handed. Crockett found that people with lower levels of serotonin were more likely than others to reject offers they deemed to be unfair.

When the scientists examined the brain activity of participants with depleted serotonin levels as they accepted or rejected the offers, they found that rejecting offers led to increased activity in the dorsal striatum — a region involved in processing reward. Crockett says the findings suggest that dips in serotonin can shift people’s motivations to punish unfairness. For instance, when you deplete serotonin, people who are normally more forgiving may become happier with revenge, she says.

Crockett notes that serotonin levels may fluctuate when people are hungry or stressed. The findings illustrate how individual differences in biology might influence the way people view, and respond to, the actions of others.

"Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:36:27 -0400

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty”

- Into The Wild (via cosmofilius)

heyfunniest: k-auhale: So I have been talking to this guy I...

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:35:43 -0400

heyfunniest:

k-auhale:

So I have been talking to this guy I really like for about a month now, and I was at work one day, and he surprises me, holding my favourite Starbucks drink. I had lent him the book Looking For Alaska, because he said he never really enjoyed reading, and I told him this book would change that. So he told me he was done with it, and he took me home from work. We get in front of my house and he’s like “I want another book!” So I told him I’d run inside and get him Paper Towns.

As I was getting out he grabs me by my hand and says, “Wait! there’s this quote I wanted to show you on page… 123, I think. I like it a lot and I’m surprised you didn’t highlight it!”

And so I turn to the page, and there is this post it note pointing to that sentence.

I was asked out via a John Green book.

Clever.

bepeu: what i learned in high school you can pass some classes by being friends with the...

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:34:50 -0400

bepeu:

what i learned in high school

you can pass some classes by being friends with the teacher

there is more than one kind of cool

if you write just random things on some homework then you may still get some point but the teacher will pull you aside because she is worried about you

not all food is edible

who cares

casualcynic: So my mom and I have been working the same...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:55:54 -0400

casualcynic:

So my mom and I have been working the same waitress job for 5-6 years now. She had been waitressing years before, but this is recently. Anyway, about… 15 minutes ago this guy she waited on left and told her to take care. Just that. Prior to this she had talked to him about Italy. Her people are from Florence, this and that, and she said she’s never been. She’s got 8 years of art education and she’s working a waitress job. It’s pretty… Sad and disappointing, I guess. Her and my father divorced 6 years ago and she hasn’t had a real job ever. Just been stuck in a small town she’s not from.

This man who we have never seen before tipped her 1000 dollars for a trip to Italy. Walked out, not another word.

…you know. Just when I start to lose faith in humanity….Hm.

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:54:58 -0400

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:54:38 -0400

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:48:50 -0400

i-ran-over-oprah: electroego: and they say gay marriage is...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:48:23 -0400

i-ran-over-oprah:

electroego:

and they say gay marriage is unnatural

A WHOLE RAW POTATO

aseaofquotes: Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:47:16 -0400

aseaofquotes:

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:44:59 -0400

Easier said than done.

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:43:44 -0400

Easier said than done.

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:30:54 -0400

nigerian: [singing in shower] [simon cowell appears] “its a no from me”

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:29:26 -0400

nigerian:

[singing in shower] [simon cowell appears] “its a no from me”

Best feeling in the world. Can’t wait to visit my bf on...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:50:10 -0400

Best feeling in the world. Can’t wait to visit my bf on Monday :).Oh Marcus.

truebluemeandyou: crankycrafter: houndstoothhero: truebluemean...

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:14:26 -0400

truebluemeandyou:

crankycrafter:

houndstoothhero:

truebluemeandyou:

DIY Know Your Shoes Guide from Enerie here. My favorite shoes aren’t listed yet - Louis Heels which were popular in the 1920s. First seen at inspiration & realisation’s Facebook page.

Excuse? Said “Lobster claw” shoes are actually known as Armadillos. Alexander McQueen, Plato’s Atlantis S/S 2010.

Look it up

crankycrafter: Actually the Armadillos are popularly known by everyone as “Lobster Claw Shoes”. And in your immortal words:

truebluemeandyou: LOL! I’ve always called them “Lobster Claw Shoes” but now I know what they were originally called. But I’m still going to call them “Lobster Claw Shoes”.

What's the difference between a cat and a comma?

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:14:08 -0400

anglosexual:

imaslytherinbitch:

One has claws at the end of its paws and one is a pause at the end of a clause.

this sounds like a really classy rap

dames-my-name-shippings-my-game: beben-eleben: There once was...

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:13:28 -0400

dames-my-name-shippings-my-game:

beben-eleben:

There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy’s father wanted to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence.

On the first day of this lesson, the little boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. He was really mad!

Over the course of the next few weeks, the little boy began to control his temper, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence dramatically decreased.

It wasn’t long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Then, the day finally came when the little boy didn’t lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he couldn’t wait to tell his father.

Pleased, his father suggested that he now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper.

Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

Very gently, the father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

“You have done very well, my son,” he smiled, “but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.”

The little boy listened carefully as his father continued to speak.

“When you say things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you’re sorry, the wounds will still be there.”

And this shall be me and my child.

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:13:06 -0400

Photo

Mon, 13 May 2013 03:03:24 -0400