Children are born to know right from wrong, new research shows

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Children have an inbuilt sense of right and wrong, researchers claimed last night.

The study, which showed children are 'hard-wired' to feel empathy, is likely to rekindle the nature-or-nurture debate and may cast light on the causes of bullying.

Scientists revealed that children from seven to 12 can understand when another person is suffering.

Most also recognise wrong-doing such as bullying and feel a natural urge to protect the victim.

The researchers concluded that a child's caring side was not just down to 'nurturing' parenting.

To discover if children understand pain and suffering like grown-ups do, a team at Chicago University showed 17 youngsters films of the feet or hands of people in pain.

In some, the pain was accidental, as when an object fell on a person's hands. Others depicted deliberate pain, such as a bully stepping on someone's foot.

Scans showed which parts of their brains reacted. For accidental pain, activity rose in brain circuits associated with pain processing.

But for deliberate pain, parts of the brain linked to social interaction and moral reasoning lit up.