Brain Imaging Reveals Likelihood of Kindness

New brain imaging techniques reveal that kindness is more prone to some than others.

Lead study author Professor Abigail Marsh of Georgetown College compared the brains of altruistic and selfish individuals to those linked with emotionally selfless people.

At this time, researchers speculate that possessing a larger brain region for emotion could help improve an individual's ability to accurately identify the needs of others.

For their findings, researchers compared the MRI brain scans of 19 altruistic kidney donors to 20 people who had never donated an organ. Many were subjected to fearful, neural or angry expressions during the procedure.

"The results of brain scans and behavioral testing suggests that these donors have some structural and functional brain differences that may make them more sensitive, on average, to other people's distress," Marsh said, in a news release.

Furthermore, researhers found that organ donors showed brain activity in the right amygdala while viewing fearful expressions when compared to more selfish individuals.

The latest information supports previous studies regarding psychopaths and their inability to empathize with others.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.