Helping those in need does more than make the giver feel good. In a study published online in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine on July 25, it led to increased activity in the parental brain, an area associated with responding to infant cues. It also decreased activity in areas of the brain sometimes linked to fear and stress.
To understand how targeted support—helping single, identifiable individuals in need—and untargeted support—helping larger societal causes such as charities—effect the brain, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a series of experiments.
In the first experiment, 45 participants with an average age of 23, completed a "giving support" task where they had a chance to win rewards for someone close to them who needed money (targeted support), for a charity (untargeted support), or for themselves.
Using functional MRI (fMRI), researchers scanned participants' brains as they rated emotions based on facial expressions shown to them. This helped researchers measure the activation in various brain regions.
Participants reported feeling more socially connected and believed their support was more effective when helping someone they knew compared to giving to a charity. Meanwhile, fMRI scans showed giving support was linked to greater activity in the ventral striatum (VS) and septal area (SA)—regions associated with parental care behaviors in animals—regardless of whether it was targeted or untargeted. Targeted support was associated with a higher activation of the SA and lower activity in the amygdala, a brain region sometimes linked to fear and stress responses.
In the second experiment, 382 participants provided self-reported data on their behavior in giving targeted and untargeted support. They underwent a different emotional ratings task accompanied by fMRI scanning.
Again, fMRI revealed giving more targeted support led to reduced brain activity in the amygdala, while untargeted support had no effect.
"The current findings suggest that giving targeted support might be particularly beneficial, but not all targeted support is associated with health," the researchers wrote. For example, providing care over a long period of time for an ill family member can have detrimental effects on a caregiver's health.
However, they emphasized the study contributes to the further understanding of how giving targeted social support may be connected to health.