The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, examines the effect of altruistic behaviors on physical pain.
Researchers conducted two pilot studies and three experiments. They used a functional MRI and found that after an individual performed altruistic actions, brain activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral insula in response to a painful shock was significantly reduced.
They also found that altruistic actions relieved both induced physical pain among healthy adults and chronic pain among cancer patients
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