Magnetic Zaps to the Brain Can Alter People’s Moral Judgments

Beauty may lie in the eyes of the beholder, but morality, apparently, lies just behind your right ear--in an area scientists call the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ). In a study that helps explain the mechanics of morality, neuroscientist Liane Young and her colleagues found that activity in the RTPJ is linked to the types of moral judgments we make--and those judgments can easily be tinkered with using a mere magnet. The researchers found that by delivering magnetic pulses to the RTPJ they were able to impact moral judgments; the magnetic pulses