People with damage to small area of the brain lack willingness to sacrifice others

Sacrificing one life to save hundreds of others: an easy choice? According to Utrecht University neuroscientists Jack van Honk and David Terburg, “most people faced with such a hypothetical moral decision would indeed choose to sacrifice that one life.” However, they found that people with a damaged basolateral amygdala (BLA), a small area of the brain, had a different response: “No, I would not.” They have now published their findings in the scientific journal PNAS. 

In their study, Van Honk, Terburg and their colleagues confronted their subjects with various moral dilemmas. The subjects included five people with damage to the aforementioned small area of the brain. It was found that they struggled with moral dilemmas that required sacrificing a life. They indicated that they would not do so, even if sacrificing that one life would mean saving thousands of others. Terburg: 'This leads us to conclude that the basolateral amygdala, or BLA, is essential for making the decision to sacrifice a life for the greater good.'

Deliberation v intuition

The researchers also asked the subjects with a damaged basolateral amygdala how they had arrived at their decision. The reply was that the decision to sacrifice a life “was too painful”. Terburg: 'From a neuroscientific perspective, this demonstrates that the BLA is crucial to making deliberate, ‘outcome-driven’ decisions. When a person’s BLA is damaged, they make intuitive, ‘action-driven’ decisions instead.'