key Unraveling social behavior. The neurosciences are beginning to provide answers to questions such as why we cry, we help others or altruistic gestures.
Nora Bär
THE NATION, November 8, 2009
In "A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick, a group of young people milling around the city to stick to their victims. The scene of fiction, dark parable that in 1971 he approached the chilling violence of certain current events, it seemed justifiable only by the imagination of the novelist who designed the plot: Anthony Burgess. However, a couple of years ago, the French neurobiologist Jean Decety discovered that if they showed adolescents with behavioral problems videos of people beaten, activated brain circuits for empathy, but also the centers of pleasure ...
Aggression, empathy, concern for others, altruism, ethics and morality are central gears of life of our societies. In recent years neuroscience has begun to unravel these complex cognitive processes that link us with our family and our posterity, and society as a whole. Some of the leading players in this real "revolution of the brain" were days ago in Buenos Aires at the International Symposium of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry, organized by the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute (INEC).
"The social cognition attempts to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behavior of individuals are influenced by real or imagined presence of others " " says Facundo Manes, director of INEC and the Neuroscience Center of the Favaloro Foundation. The work in this field are diverse and include different paradigms, such as facial expression recognition and emotion processing. The theory of mind is the human capacity to realize that other people have desires and beliefs different from ours and that their behavior can be explained in terms of them. This ability to recognize the nature of our beliefs and that of others is vital for life in society and for the transmission of culture.
Manes explains, the neural substrates underlying these processes are poorly understood, but research is beginning to discover. None is based on a single structure, but in several areas of the brain that act alternately integrated. Something that happens in the creation of moral conduct. "No regions of the mind dedicated to the moral" "says Jorge Moll, the Centre for Neuroscience LABS-D'Or, Rio de Janeiro. For any cognitive process requires the orchestration of different kinds of knowledge working together. What emerges the moral brain the interaction between cultural and biological factors? Although still in its infancy in this issue, cognitive neuroscience has some answers.
For example, studies show that patients who exhibit damage focused on one area of \u200b\u200bthe prefrontal cortex have deficits in behavior of pride, shame and repentance, and others who are associated with difficulties in attributing intentionality.
"We showed in healthy individuals altruistic decisions, such as donating money to charity, we activated the same brain circuits that make money," says Moll. What's more, we find that there is a specific region donations brain, suggesting that donating money, but not win it for ourselves, is connected with the responses of social cohesion. "
The first step to moral behavior is empathy. " The spark of consideration for others " defines Jean Decety, editor in chief of the Journal of Social Neuroscience and director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago. He adds: " Why is it so important? Because it is considered the glue of social cohesion, and there is an association between empathy and morality. The experience of empathy llea us to behave moral. But while people often think that having a lot of empathy is a good thing, I say that has to be regulated because it can exhaust our emotional resources. "
Empathy is the natural ability to share and appreciate the feelings of others. It a necessary but not sufficient for compassion. "The first focuses on the individual himself, the second is centered on the other" , Decety said. Under this definition, empathy is neutral is good, but can also lead to cruelty.
both morale and empathy are the result of evolution, we share with most mammals and appear very early in life. At 18 hours after birth, when a baby cries in the nursery, the rest are set to mourn. Emotional resonance that is innate and opens the way to empathy and morality.
To remove components, Decety the study from the pain network. "Why cry? , he asks. Why do we have to express pain? Pain is a homeostatic mechanism to keep the body healthy. But through natural selection, the system pain supports and encourages the ability of social cohesion. If you love someone, you feel bad when that person has. " Decety discovered
that empathy does not always move us to action but to see people in a situation that causes pain, activates brain circuits linked to the danger, and the first reaction is avoidance. To work with it daily, as happens to the doctors, it is necessary to regulate empathy, and the researcher was able to prove that they are sufficient stimuli of 2.2 seconds to activate a region of the prefrontal cortex which governs emotion in the insula and amygdala.
Due to the plasticity of our brains, our sense of empathy and morals can be modified compared to earlier experiences, culture and education. "circuits are innate, but also respond to personal experience " says Josef Parvizi, Stanford University.
" social abuse and neglect can alter a child's brain connections Moll says. Where a guy who was well maintained could show generosity, other circuits can be driven by survival, the domain. If one abandons the child in an environment of violence, what do you get after 15 years? A brain wired for violence. This increases the responsibility of society. "
" For the evolution we have systems in the brain from birth seeking social interaction, "concludes Decety. We try to understand why we care about others, why empathy sometimes does not work or there are problems between groups. We are all the same species and there is no way we can survive without the other. "
Antoine Bechara and Antonio Damasio found that patients with damage to their prefrontal cortex can detect the implications of a social situation, but no decisions appropriate. "We showed that normal individuals develop responses galvanic skin, as they contemplate a risky decision, and begin to choose advantageously before they know the best strategy, but patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex behave as if they were insensitive to future consequences, are driven by immediate reward Bechara said. This mechanism could be linked to addictions. "
What do you think about this research? Makes your comments.
Nora Bär
THE NATION, November 8, 2009
In "A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick, a group of young people milling around the city to stick to their victims. The scene of fiction, dark parable that in 1971 he approached the chilling violence of certain current events, it seemed justifiable only by the imagination of the novelist who designed the plot: Anthony Burgess. However, a couple of years ago, the French neurobiologist Jean Decety discovered that if they showed adolescents with behavioral problems videos of people beaten, activated brain circuits for empathy, but also the centers of pleasure ...
Aggression, empathy, concern for others, altruism, ethics and morality are central gears of life of our societies. In recent years neuroscience has begun to unravel these complex cognitive processes that link us with our family and our posterity, and society as a whole. Some of the leading players in this real "revolution of the brain" were days ago in Buenos Aires at the International Symposium of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry, organized by the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute (INEC).
"The social cognition attempts to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behavior of individuals are influenced by real or imagined presence of others " " says Facundo Manes, director of INEC and the Neuroscience Center of the Favaloro Foundation. The work in this field are diverse and include different paradigms, such as facial expression recognition and emotion processing. The theory of mind is the human capacity to realize that other people have desires and beliefs different from ours and that their behavior can be explained in terms of them. This ability to recognize the nature of our beliefs and that of others is vital for life in society and for the transmission of culture.
Manes explains, the neural substrates underlying these processes are poorly understood, but research is beginning to discover. None is based on a single structure, but in several areas of the brain that act alternately integrated. Something that happens in the creation of moral conduct. "No regions of the mind dedicated to the moral" "says Jorge Moll, the Centre for Neuroscience LABS-D'Or, Rio de Janeiro. For any cognitive process requires the orchestration of different kinds of knowledge working together. What emerges the moral brain the interaction between cultural and biological factors? Although still in its infancy in this issue, cognitive neuroscience has some answers.
For example, studies show that patients who exhibit damage focused on one area of \u200b\u200bthe prefrontal cortex have deficits in behavior of pride, shame and repentance, and others who are associated with difficulties in attributing intentionality.
"We showed in healthy individuals altruistic decisions, such as donating money to charity, we activated the same brain circuits that make money," says Moll. What's more, we find that there is a specific region donations brain, suggesting that donating money, but not win it for ourselves, is connected with the responses of social cohesion. "
The first step to moral behavior is empathy. " The spark of consideration for others " defines Jean Decety, editor in chief of the Journal of Social Neuroscience and director of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago. He adds: " Why is it so important? Because it is considered the glue of social cohesion, and there is an association between empathy and morality. The experience of empathy llea us to behave moral. But while people often think that having a lot of empathy is a good thing, I say that has to be regulated because it can exhaust our emotional resources. "
Empathy is the natural ability to share and appreciate the feelings of others. It a necessary but not sufficient for compassion. "The first focuses on the individual himself, the second is centered on the other" , Decety said. Under this definition, empathy is neutral is good, but can also lead to cruelty.
both morale and empathy are the result of evolution, we share with most mammals and appear very early in life. At 18 hours after birth, when a baby cries in the nursery, the rest are set to mourn. Emotional resonance that is innate and opens the way to empathy and morality.
To remove components, Decety the study from the pain network. "Why cry? , he asks. Why do we have to express pain? Pain is a homeostatic mechanism to keep the body healthy. But through natural selection, the system pain supports and encourages the ability of social cohesion. If you love someone, you feel bad when that person has. " Decety discovered
that empathy does not always move us to action but to see people in a situation that causes pain, activates brain circuits linked to the danger, and the first reaction is avoidance. To work with it daily, as happens to the doctors, it is necessary to regulate empathy, and the researcher was able to prove that they are sufficient stimuli of 2.2 seconds to activate a region of the prefrontal cortex which governs emotion in the insula and amygdala.
Due to the plasticity of our brains, our sense of empathy and morals can be modified compared to earlier experiences, culture and education. "circuits are innate, but also respond to personal experience " says Josef Parvizi, Stanford University.
" social abuse and neglect can alter a child's brain connections Moll says. Where a guy who was well maintained could show generosity, other circuits can be driven by survival, the domain. If one abandons the child in an environment of violence, what do you get after 15 years? A brain wired for violence. This increases the responsibility of society. "
" For the evolution we have systems in the brain from birth seeking social interaction, "concludes Decety. We try to understand why we care about others, why empathy sometimes does not work or there are problems between groups. We are all the same species and there is no way we can survive without the other. "
Antoine Bechara and Antonio Damasio found that patients with damage to their prefrontal cortex can detect the implications of a social situation, but no decisions appropriate. "We showed that normal individuals develop responses galvanic skin, as they contemplate a risky decision, and begin to choose advantageously before they know the best strategy, but patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex behave as if they were insensitive to future consequences, are driven by immediate reward Bechara said. This mechanism could be linked to addictions. "
What do you think about this research? Makes your comments.
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