Scientists discover moral compass in the brain which can be controlled by magnets

The Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 30th March 2010 | David Derbyshire

[llevrok]

Scientists have discovered a real-life 'moral compass' in the brain that controls how we judge other people's behaviour.

The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanours or good works.

In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.

The study highlights how our sense of right and wrong isn't just based on upbringing, religion or philosophy - but by the biology of our brains.

Dr Liane Young, who led the study, said: 'You think of morality as being a really high-level behaviour. To be able to apply a magnetic field to a specific brain region and change people's moral judgements is really astonishing.'

The moral compass lies in a part of the brain called the right temporo-parietal junction.(snip) just behind the right ear.

The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a non-invasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation

The technique generates a magnetic field on a small part of the skull which creates weak electric currents in the brain. These currents interfere with nearby brain cells and prevent them from firing normally.

In the first experiment, 12 volunteers were exposed to the magnetic field for 25 minutes before they were given a series of 'moral maze' style scenarios. For each of the 192 scenarios, they were asked to make a judgement about the character's actions on a scale of 1 for 'absolutely forbidden' to 7 for 'absolutely permissible'.

It's not the first time that scientists have found parts of the brain that specialise in ethics and morality. Last year American scientists claimed to have found a "god spot" - a region of the brain that controls religious belief.

[llevrok]

Explains why I have been acting "strange" since getting hearing aids...

[Red Badger]

My 3 MRI scans really screwed me then................

[a fool in paradise]

In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.

I'm getting in the living room...

[Publius]

In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.

They registered as Democrats.

[Red Badger]

The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanours or good works.

The Schadenfreude Zone?...........

[Soothesayer]

Great! Now let’s find out why it is missing in the brains of leftists.

[Red Badger]

In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.

Jack Daniels works good too..............

[brytlea]

What kind of a person participates in a study like this?

[Bean Counter]

[Perdogg]

[a fool in paradise]

So what explains “changing morals” in a culture like acceptance of homosexuality? Are there magnetic pulses in tv and radio broadcasts?

[Woebama]

Somewhere a teenage boy is holding a magnet behind his new girlfriends right ear . . .

[GraceG]

>> In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral. <<

Well, I guess we have to look forward to them cutting into our heads at the re-education camps...

Maybe they will remove the “God Center” too.

I wonder if they will let us keep the pieces of brain they cut out of us, maybe we can put them in a jar of formaldehyde and talk to them when we are lonely...

[a fool in paradise]

This will make it better.

[RobbyS]

What a load. One can get the same results by getting someone drunk!

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Is that a magnet in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

[pa_dweller]

Maybe a treatment for sociopaths could be developed.

[tet68]

Honey, look, I got you some magnetic earrings.

[DBrow]

So my moral compass depends on what lattitude I’m at and which way I’m facing.

And during a geomagnetic reversal all sorts of trouble brews...

[Moonman62]

Nike must have placed magnets in Tiger Wood’s cap.