A recent study attests that our selfishness or altruism depends on the link between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The latter is our emotional center.
A person’s altruism or selfishness can depend on the amygdala, the fulcrum of nerve nuclei in the innermost part of the brain’s lobes. Basically, our emotional center. A recent study has revealed what are the causes of altruism and selfishness in animals thanks to the analysis of socio-environmental behaviors linked to brain factors.
The researchers of the team are Dr. Diego Scheggia, coordinated by Professor Monica Di Luca and Professor Fabrizio Gardoni. In collaboration with the IIT Genetics of Cognition laboratory coordinated by Francesco Papaleo. Experts have demonstrated the involvement of the link between the basolateral amygdala and the cerebral prefrontal cortex. This relationship affects selfish or altruistic behaviors and explains the different attitudes between different subjects. The amygdala is activated more in selfless people .
In selfish individuals , on the other hand, it is less active because there is no communication with the prefrontal cortex. The latter also plays a fundamental role in other cognitive and social functions. The two research teams analyzed the behavior on animal models. In practice, if a subject undergoing an experimental phase can choose whether or not to share food with his partner. Researchers have observed whether there is more altruism between partners when they know each other or when one of the two is hungry. Among the males with the most distant social rank, the most altruistic is the dominant subject. If, on the other hand, they are two equal subjects, the competition increases.
The correlation between the basolateral amygdala and the prefrontal cortex in the regulation between altruism and egoism is demonstrated by chemogenetics . It is a process that uses molecules that attach themselves to specific sites allowing to activate single brain pathways.
The research project studied how prosocial and selfish actions are influenced by numerous factors including: the social position occupied within an organized community, empathy, familiarity within a social relationship and for the first time we also demonstrated the role of the brain circuit that involves the amygdala, a complex that is defined as our center of emotions, and the prefrontal cortex that plays a key role in controlling the most important cognitive abilities, including in the social sphere.
Diego Scheggia, co-author of the study
- At the basis of selfishness there is a lack of communication between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex of the brain (ohga.it)
