Magnets Applied to the Brain Disrupt People's Moral Center
Posted on April 6, 2010
Researchers from MIT, Harvard and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that people's sense of morality can be altered by using powerful magnets. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
MIT scientists and study co-author Liane Young says, "It's one thing to 'know' that we'll find morality in the brain. It's another to 'knock out' that brain area and change people's moral judgments."
Liane Young, the lead author of the Magnets & Morality study, talked to CNN's Ali Velshi about the findings. She explains that by applying magnets to the part of the brain behind the right ear they found that you can disrupt people's moral judgments. They did a series of tests and found that people under the influence of the powerful magnets judged people more harshly based on the outcome of an incident and less on their intent. For example, when asked about the underwear bomber people under the influence of the magnetic field were more lenient on the bomber because he didn't end up hurting very many people.
MIT has a report on the study in its news section. The activity in the right temporo-parietal junction was disrupted in the study.
Previous studies have shown that a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is highly active when we think about other people’s intentions, thoughts and beliefs. In the new study, the researchers disrupted activity in the right TPJ by inducing a current in the brain using a magnetic field applied to the scalp. They found that the subjects’ ability to make moral judgments that require an understanding of other people’s intentions — for example, a failed murder attempt — was impaired.It's pretty strange as the people being bombarded by the magnetic field were somewhat ignoring intent when judging people. They were acting more robotic and judging based on the outcome.