Brain Areas Keeping Selfishness in Check Found

Swiss researchers from the University of Zürich were recently able to identify areas of the brain that are responsible for underlying social fairness and acceptance. They say that these neural hotspots are responsible for exerting control over selfish impulses and economic self-interest.

The reason why this is such an important finding is that our entire society is built on the principles of equality, fairness and cooperation. However, our brains at times have the tendency to act selfishly and out of self-interest, which may be beneficial for us in the short-term, but detrimental later on.

There are numerous situations that can be used to exemplify this, but the bottom line is that most people living in society today willingly and knowingly renounced some of their freedoms and impulses, in order to enjoy the advantages imposed by living in a group of cooperating partners.

From a strictly evolutionary perspective, it makes no sense to suffer for others. If people are called upon to accept detrimental measures for some time – for the good of the group as a whole – their acceptance does not stem from a natural tendency, but rather from a habit our species formed.

Zürich investigators found it very interesting to study how the human brain goes about opposing itself, so they used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate which regions of the brain were activated while people exercised control.

Details of the neural networks they discovered were published in the latest issue of the top scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, PsychCentral reports. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DPFC) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) were found to be responsible for exercising control.

Experts propose that increasing electrical activity levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or deep-brain stimulation (DBS) could result in a boost of activity in the frontal lobes of the brain as well.

A higher degree of activity here would lead to better impulse control, less selfish behavior, more sociability and displaying a propensity of be fair. This research also raises some interesting dilemmas.

For example, would it be ethical to apply such techniques to the brains of prisoners, in order to make them more social and capable of functioning within a society? Some advantages would undoubtedly be felt, but who has the authority to subject another person to such a treatment?