[University of Virginia] researchers found that regions of the brain responsible for threat response – the anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus – became active under threat of shock to the self and to the threat to a friend. However, when the threat of shock was to a stranger, these brain areas showed minimal activity. When the threat of shock was to a friend, the brain activity of the participant was basically identical to the activity displayed under threat to the self. The correlation between self and friend was remarkably similar, Coan said. The finding shows the brains remarkable capacity to model self to others; that people close to us become a part of ourselves, and that is not just metaphor or poetry, its very real. Literally we are under threat when a friend is under threat. But not so when a stranger is under threat.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:19:00 +0000
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