Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified

[amyrose2712]

Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified

ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2008) — People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit', according to new research by scientists at UCL (University College London).

The study, by Professor Semir Zeki and John Romaya of the Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL, examined the brain areas that correlate with the sentiment of hate and shows that the 'hate circuit' is distinct from those related to emotions such as fear, threat and danger – although it shares a part of the brain associated with aggression. The circuit is also quite distinct from that associated with romantic love, though it shares at least two common structures with it.

The results are an extension of previous studies on the brain mechanisms of romantic and maternal love from the same laboratory. Explaining the idea behind the research, Professor Zeki said: "Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and eradicated. Yet to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest to love. Like love, it is often seemingly irrational and can lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds. How can two opposite sentiments lead to the same behaviour?"

~snip~

"Interestingly, the activity in some of these structures in response to viewing a hated face is proportional in strength to the declared intensity of hate, thus allowing the subjective state of hate to be objectively quantified. This finding may have legal implications in criminal cases, for example."

Unlike romantic love, which is directed at one person, hate can be directed against entire individuals or groups, as is the case with racial, political, or gender hatred. Professor Zeki said that these different varieties of hate will be the subject of future studies from his laboratory.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028205658.htm

[Beregond2]

1. I'm always a bit amused by these brain studies.

It strikes me as being rather like studying the transistors in a TV in an attempt to understand the news.

[nebenaube]

2. good call! n/t

[phantom power]

4. Well, no, it's like studying transistors to figure out how the TV works.

[Beregond2]

5. Except there is often this implied assumption that

understanding where emotions manifest in the brain is somehow equivalent to understanding why we have them, what causes them, what they mean, etc. I'm not disparaging brain research; I just think it is important to realize it's limitations.

[phantom power]

6. I would guess that's mostly the fault of Bad Science Reporting.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Don't blame the scientist for the reporter

It doesn't have to involve pureed mouse testicles and high powered lasers to be science ya know ;) Although that sounds like a fun experiment... hmmm.

[nashville_brook]

3. WNYC's RadioLab does a great job with subjects such as this -- check out the "Morality" show

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/