• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

The joy of giving, and the Cognitive and Emotional Health Project: The Healthy Brain

October 13, 2006 by Alvaro Fernandez

Great arti­cle in this week’s The Econ­o­mist on The joy of giv­ing: Donat­ing to char­i­ty rewards the brain. Some quotes:

“Researchers at the Nation­al Insti­tute of Neu­ro­log­i­cal Dis­or­ders and Stroke in Bethes­da, Mary­land, want­ed to find the neur­al basis for unselfish acts. They decid­ed to peek into the brains of 19 vol­un­teers who were choos­ing whether to give mon­ey to char­i­ty, or keep it for them­selves. To do so, they used a stan­dard tech­nique called func­tion­al mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing, which can map the activ­i­ty of the var­i­ous parts of the brain. The results were report­ed in this week’s Pro­ceed­ings of the Nation­al Acad­e­my of Sci­ences.”

…
“the researchers were able to exam­ine what went on inside each per­son­’s head as they made deci­sions based on moral beliefs. They found that the part of the brain that was active when a per­son donat­ed hap­pened to be the brain’s reward centre—the mesolim­bic path­way, to give it its prop­er name—responsible for dol­ing out the dopamine-medi­at­ed eupho­ria asso­ci­at­ed with sex, mon­ey, food and drugs. Thus the warm glow that accom­pa­nies char­i­ta­ble giv­ing has a phys­i­o­log­i­cal basis.”
…
“Donat­ing also engaged the part of the brain that plays a role in the bond­ing behav­iour between moth­er and child, and in roman­tic love. This involves oxy­tocin, a hor­mone that increas­es trust and co-oper­a­tion.”

You may won­der why the Insti­tute of Neu­ro­log­i­cal Dis­or­ders and Stroke is inves­ti­gat­ing this (hmm, is giv­ing to char­i­ty a Neu­ro­log­i­cal Dis­or­der?), but the Insti­tute is part of a part­ner­ship called Cog­ni­tive and Emo­tion­al Health Project: The Healthy Brain, among the Nation­al Insti­tute on Aging, the Nation­al Insti­tute of Men­tal Health and the Insti­tute of Neu­ro­log­i­cal Dis­or­ders and Stroke, that aims to “assess the state of epi­demi­o­log­ic research on demo­graph­ic, social and bio­log­ic deter­mi­nants of cog­ni­tive and emo­tion­al health in aging pop­u­la­tions, and the path­ways by which cog­ni­tive and emo­tion­al health may rec­i­p­ro­cal­ly influ­ence each oth­er. As a first step, a com­pre­hen­sive review of mea­sures that have been (or could be) used in epi­demi­o­log­ic research was under­tak­en. Mea­sures in four domains are reviewed: (1) cog­ni­tive health, (2) emo­tion­al health, (3) demographic/social fac­tors, and (4) biomedical/physiologic factors.”

Proven. Anoth­er mus­cle to train in a good Brain and Mind Fit­ness Pro­gram. Giv­ing to char­i­ties we care about, and doing unselfish acts.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: Biology, Brain-Fitness, Brain-health, Cognitive Neuroscience, Emotions, Health & Wellness, Mental-Health, Mind-Fitness, Mind/Body, Neuropsychology, Philanthropy, Positive-Psychology

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill George says

    December 23, 2008 at 8:16

    “Giv­ing to char­i­ties we care about, and doing unselfish acts.”

    The unselfish act of giv­ing to oth­ers in order to expe­ri­ence that “warm glow” caused by dopamine can be con­sid­ered self­ish. Para­dox­i­cal huh?

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 35,218 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy