Would you stop to help an injured stranger from a fire, even though it could mean risking your own life?
That’s the scenario a team of researchers recreated in a virtual reality simulation, set up to test what is happening in our brains when choose to be selfless.
And their results show that physical differences exist in the brains of people who ‘do the right thing’.
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Researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies immersed participants in a virtual reality building fire. They were asked whether they wanted to save their own lives by escaping immediately or to stop and help rescue an injured person
THE STUDY
Participants were presented with a virtual reality burning building.
The environment included intense audio-visual cues – like ringing alarms, explosions, coughing and choking – aimed at increasing the realism of the situation, as well as feelings of anxiety and danger.
A bar also indicated how much ‘life energy’ the avatar used by each participant had left, to try and heighten the time sensitivity of their decision making.
Towards the end of the stressful scenario, each participant was asked whether they wanted to save their own lives by escaping immediately or to stop and help rescue an injured person.
Researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, hoped to shed light on the origins of altruism.
Their study immersed participants in a virtual reality (VR) environment that recreated a building on fire which they had to evacuate in a hurry.
Each person was asked whether they wanted to save their own lives by escaping immediately or to stop and help rescue an injured person.
The majority made the altruistic choice, with 65 per cent helping the incapacitated individual – despite the threat to their virtual ‘self’.
And the people who chose to help had previously reported a greater concern for the well-being of others, in a questionnaire taken before the test.
They also had an enlarged area of the brain, the right anterior insula, which is involved in processing social emotions.
Their results were published in the journal Neuropsychologia.
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The majority of participants made the altruistic choice, with 65 per cent helping the incapacitated individual. The study found that these individuals had an enlarged area of the brain, the right anterior insula (pictured), which is involved in processing social emotions
THE RESULTS
The majority of people made the altruistic choice, with 65 per cent rescuing the incapacitated individual – despite the threat to their virtual ‘self’.
The people who chose to help their fellow escapees had previously reported a greater concern for the well-being of others, in a questionnaire taken before the test.
They also had an enlarged area of the brain, the larger right anterior insula, which is involved in processing social emotions.
Virtual reality may not be able to truly recreate the peril of being trapped in a burning building.
But the research team worked to make sure the simulation triggered the same kinds of responses as the real world.
The computer based environment included intense audio-visual cues – like ringing alarms, explosions, coughing and choking – aimed at increasing feelings of anxiety and danger.
A bar also indicated how much ‘life energy’ the avatar used by each participant had left, to try and heighten the time sensitivity of their decision making.
Toward the very end of the escape, when their avatars were almost drained of life energy, the participants were presented with the difficult decision of whether to risk their own lives.
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Source: DailyMail UK