The researchers subjected 20 volunteers to a number of tests designed to assess their notions of right and wrong.More details at BBC News.
In one scenario participants were asked how acceptable it was for a man to let his girlfriend walk across a bridge he knew to be unsafe.
After receiving a 500 millisecond magnetic pulse to the scalp, the volunteers delivered verdicts based on outcome rather than moral principle.
If the girlfriend made it across the bridge safely, her boyfriend was not seen as having done anything wrong.
In effect, they were unable to make moral judgments that require an understanding of other people's intentions.
Magnetic field can disrupt your moral compass
Posted on Wednesday, March 31 2010 @ 2:30 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Scientists at MIT discovered that magnetic fields applied to a specific brain region can change people's moral judgements: