Mirror neuron activity predicts people ’s decision-making in moral dilemmas, UCLA study finds

It is wartime. You and your fellow refugees are hiding from enemy soldiers, when a baby begins to cry. You cover her mouth to block the sound. If you remove your hand, her crying will draw the attention of the soldiers, who will kill everyone. If you smother the child, you ’ll save yourself and the others.If you were in that situation, which was dramatized in the final episode of the ’70s and ’80s TV series “M.A.S.H.,” what would you do?The results of a new UCLA study suggest that scientists could make a good guess based on how the brain responds when people watch someone else experience pain. The study found that those responses predict whether people will be inclined to avoid causing harm to others when facing moral dilemmas.“The findings give us a glimpse into what is the nature of morality,” said Dr. Marco Iacoboni, director of the Neuromodulation Lab at UCLA’sAhmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center and the study ’s senior author. “This is a foundational question to understand ourselves, and to understand how the brain shapes our own nature.”In  the study, which was published in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, Iacoboni and colleagues analyzed mirror neurons, brain cells that respond equally when someone performs an action or simply watches someone else perform the same action. Mirror neurons play a vital role in how people learn through mimicry and feel empathy for others.When you wince while seeing someone experience pain — a phenomenon cal...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news