Don’t think that it is only moral values or emotional choices that make us become generous by offering something of ours to others. Although it may seem that these operating methods are linked exclusively to psychology, in fact, in addition to morality and ethics there are also “physical” elements that could come into play. In particular we talk about specific brain regions that come into play.
As? This is explained by research appearing in PLOS Biology, conducted by scholars from the East China Normal University in China and the University of Zurich coordinated by Jie Hu, Christian Ruff and Marius Moisa.
At the origins of altruism
Not all people are the same. While there are individuals who constantly put others first, others remain more focused on personal gain. Scientists have long wondered what drives these individual differences. And it is these discrepancies that the study attempted to answer. With the research, scientists revealed that by gently stimulating two brain regions and synchronizing their activity, the people involved in the experiment became more willing to share money with others, even when it meant earning less. In short, stimulating two parts of the brain to activate in synchrony can lead people to act more generously.
The study examined 44 participants who were asked to make over 500 decisions in a game, proposing to split a sum of money with someone else, which they could then keep. With each round, the win amount changed and participants could end up with more or less money than their partner. During these steps, the team applied transcranial alternating current stimulation to the frontal and parietal lobes. This non-invasive technique was designed to coordinate the firing patterns of neurons in those areas. The stimulation guided brain cells to align themselves in repeating rhythms, gamma or alpha oscillations.
Generous for gamma sync
When stimulation specifically strengthened gamma synchrony between frontal and parietal regions, participants showed a modest increase in altruistic decisions. They were therefore more likely to share larger amounts of money, even when this reduced their earnings compared to their partner. Using one computational model, in particular, the researchers found that the stimulation changed how participants evaluated each offer. Following the stimuli, in fact, the subjects attributed greater importance to the other person’s outcome when deciding how to divide the money.
The authors point out that they did not directly measure neural activity during the experiment. Future research combining brain stimulation with electroencephalography could confirm how the intervention changes brain signals. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that synchronized activity between the frontal and parietal lobes plays a role in altruistic decision making. In short: the study found how the regions of the brain organize themselves when we make choices aimed at the well-being of others. This can also be very useful for teamwork, especially if success depends on collaboration between people.
