Investigators from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford have identified a region of the brain that is uniquely involved in exerting effort to aid others. The research, published in Current Biology, shows that effortful altruistic behaviour -choices people make that help others takes place in a different part of the brain from that used to make physically demanding choices that help oneself. Understanding more precisely what goes on in the brain when these decisions are made could help clinicians to develop approaches for treating psychopathic behaviours. It could also be useful for better understanding why people are willing to perform everyday effortful helping behaviours like voluntary work, recycling waste to slow global warming or stopping to help strangers. The area identified, called the anterior cingulate cortex gyrus (ACCg), is located towards the front of the brain. It is known to play a role in social behaviour, but has not previously been linked to putting in effort to help others.