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Scientists have discovered where a person's conscience resides
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A new research project has shown that there are areas in the human brain that are responsible for assessing life situations, i.e. the so-called human conscience. The author of the project noted that certain areas in the brain that are responsible for conscience are activated when a person faces a choice in life or evaluates an action (good or bad). The scientists published the results of their work in one of the scientific journals.
Experts suggest that the tissue clot in the brain that was discovered helps a person choose between "good" and "bad." Experts believe that the area they discovered is also responsible for strategic planning. Thanks to this area, a person is able to solve several problems, as well as draw conclusions from mistakes and not make them in the future.
During their research, scientists from Oxford studied the human brain, which allowed them to “see” the part of the brain that is responsible for the manifestation of conscience.
The scientists' experiment involved 25 people (both men and women). The experts wanted to determine whether conscience has a specific location or is a purely psychological term.
All volunteers underwent magnetic resonance imaging, after which a group of researchers analyzed data on the prefrontal zones of the human brain.
Previous studies have shown that conscience is inherent only to humans; in animals, this phenomenon is simply absent.
During the analysis of the data, the scientists compared the brains of the volunteers with the brains of monkeys who also underwent tomography, which allowed them to conclude that there are significant differences in the prefrontal zone.
It is in this part of the brain that the conscience is located, which distinguishes humans from animals, the head of the research project noted. After lengthy studies, specialists determined that the brains of primates and humans are practically identical, with the exception of the area responsible for conscience.
The brain under study was conditionally divided by specialists into 12 parts, of which 11 parts were completely identical in humans and monkeys, but humans had "lateral frontal poles" that were not found in primates. Specialists emphasize that the lateral frontal poles they discovered are a completely unique part of the human brain, which no other mammal has.
The area in the brain that distinguishes humans from all animals is a small, spherical lump of tissue that enables humans to evaluate good or bad actions. In other words, this part of the brain enables humans to analyze situations and learn not only from their own mistakes, but also from others' mistakes. The human brain has two frontal poles that diverge in different directions in the area behind the eyebrows.
Experts believe that it is this part that helps a person make the right choice, and also causes so-called “remorse”, joy or bitterness from a committed act, regret from an unmade or missed chance.
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