Topic: Sense of justice discovered in the brain

[Nemesis]

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Moral centre?

"Self interest is one important motive in every human," says Fehr, "but there are also fairness concerns in most people."

"In other words, this is the part of the brain dealing with morality," says Herb Gintis, an economist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, US. "[It] is involved in comparing the costs and benefits of the material in terms of its fairness. It represses the basic instincts."

Psychologist Laurie Santos, at Yale University in Connecticut, US, comments: "This form of spite is a bit of an evolutionary puzzle. There are few examples in the animal kingdom." The new finding is really exciting, Santos says, as the DLPFC brain area is expanded only in humans, and it could explain why this type of behaviour exists only in humans.

Fehr says the research has interesting implications for how we treat young offenders. "This region of the brain matures last, so if it is truly overriding our own self interest then adolescents are less endowed to comply with social norms than adults," he suggests. The criminal justice system takes into account differences for under-16s or under-18s, but this area fully matures around the age of 20 or 22, he says.

Journal reference: Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1129156)

Now to develop a test to see if that area is fully developed and functional before people are considered adult.  First test all the lawyers and politicians.  Then the rest of you guys.

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Interesting, although I wouldn't go so far as to call this region of the brain, the moral centre.

[Just plain old Punisher]

I had my moral compass removed years ago...never looked back.

[Sirgod]

I would love to have a Cat scan done on my brain, if nothing else then just bio-feedback on how I react to various stimuli.

Stephen