Brain's fear centre also evokes kindness

New York: A small structure in the brain associated with evoking fear till date has now been found to be influencing positive social functions like kindness and what might be called charitable giving in humans.

The amygdala, a small structure at the front end of the brain's temporal lobe, has long been associated with negative behaviour generally and specifically with fear.

Michael Platt, professor in the University of Pennsylvania, along with Steve Chang from Yale University and collaborators from Duke, showed that amygdala can also evoke kindness.

Such a link could have implications for people with autism, schizophrenia or anxiety-related disorders.

"What we're trying to do is both identify and understand the basic brain mechanism that allows us to be kind to each other and to respond to the experiences of other individuals," Platt added.

To make this discovery about the amygdala, Platt and his team looked at the social behaviour of rhesus macaques.

In his experiment, the monkeys receiving oxytocin became more willing to give to other monkeys and paid more attention to them after offering the rewards.

Rhesus macaques offer a valuable comparison to humans because the animals model many of the social behaviours in which humans engage.