Behavioural Brain Research 302:237-251 (2016)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
The present study aims to examine the relationship between the cortical midline structures (CMS), which have been regarded to be associated with selfhood, and moral decision making processes at the neural level. Traditional moral psychological studies have suggested the role of moral self as the moderator of moral cognition, so activity of moral self would present at the neural level. The present study examined the interaction between the CMS and other moral-related regions by conducting psycho-physiological interaction analysis of functional images acquired while 16 subjects were solving moral dilemmas. Furthermore, we performed Granger causality analysis to demonstrate the direction of influences between activities in the regions in moral decision-making. We first demonstrate there are significant positive interactions between two central CMS seed regions—i.e., the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)—and brain regions associated with moral functioning including the cerebellum, brainstem, midbrain, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula (AI); on the other hand, the posterior insula (PI) showed significant negative interaction with the seed regions. Second, several significant Granger causality was found from CMS to insula regions particularly under the moral-personal condition. Furthermore, significant dominant influence from the AI to PI was reported. Moral psychological implications of these findings are discussed. The present study demonstrated the significant interaction and influence between the CMS and morality-related regions while subject were solving moral dilemmas. Given that, activity in the CMS is significantly involved in human moral functioning.
|
Keywords | Functional MRI Psychophysiological interaction Granger causality Moral judgment Cortical midline structures |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Secret Joke of Kant’s Soul.Joshua Greene - 2007 - In W. Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.), Moral Psychology, Vol. 3. MIT Press.
The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: A Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment.Jonathan Haidt - 2001 - Psychological Review 108 (4):814-834.
Cortical Midline Structures and the Self.Georg Northoff & Felix Bermpohl - 2004 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8 (3):102-107.
View all 11 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Attainable and Relevant Moral Exemplars Are More Effective Than Extraordinary Exemplars in Promoting Voluntary Service Engagement.Hyemin Han, Jeongmin Kim, Changwoo Jeong & Geoffrey L. Cohen - 2017 - Frontiers in Psychology 8:283.
Neural Correlates of Moral Sensitivity and Moral Judgment Associated with Brain Circuitries of Selfhood: A Meta-Analysis.Hyemin Han - 2017 - Journal of Moral Education 46 (2):97-113.
How Can Neuroscience Contribute to Moral Philosophy, Psychology and Education Based on Aristotelian Virtue Ethics?Hyemin Han - 2016 - International Journal of Ethics Education 1 (2):201-217.
Habitual Cognitive Reappraisal Was Negatively Related to Perceived Immorality in the Harm and Fairness Domains.Zhongquan Li, Xiaoyuan Wu, Lisong Zhang & Ziyuan Zhang - 2017 - Frontiers in Psychology 8.
Nonadmirable Moral Exemplars and Virtue Development.Koji Tachibana - 2019 - Journal of Moral Education 48 (3):346-357.
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Neural Correlates of Moral Sensitivity and Moral Judgment Associated with Brain Circuitries of Selfhood: A Meta-Analysis.Hyemin Han - 2017 - Journal of Moral Education 46 (2):97-113.
Emotional-Cognitive Integration, the Self, and Cortical Midline Structures.Georg Northoff - 2005 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28 (2):211-212.
The Influence of Perceived Importance of an Ethical Issue on Moral Judgment, Moral Obligation, and Moral Intent.Russell Haines, Marc D. Street & Douglas Haines - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 81 (2):387-399.
Moral Decision-Making in Real Life: Factors Affecting Moral Orientation and Behaviour Justification.Shira Haviv & Patrick J. Leman - 2002 - Journal of Moral Education 31 (2):121-140.
The Role of Emotion Regulation in Moral Judgment.Chelsea Helion & Kevin N. Ochsner - 2018 - Neuroethics 11 (3):297-308.
Neural Foundations to Moral Reasoning and Antisocial Behavior.Adrian Raine & Yaling Yang - 2006 - Scan 1:203–213.
A Cognitive–Intuitionist Model of Moral Judgment.Adenekan Dedeke - 2015 - Journal of Business Ethics 126 (3):1-21.
The Effect of Moral Intensity on Ethical Judgment.Joan Marie McMahon & Robert J. Harvey - 2007 - Journal of Business Ethics 72 (4):335-357.
The Neural Mechanisms of Moral Cognition: A Multiple-Aspect Approach to Moral Judgment and Decision-Making. [REVIEW]William D. Casebeer & Patricia S. Churchland - 2003 - Biology and Philosophy 18 (1):169-194.
The Effect of Moral Intensity on Ethical Decision Making in Accounting.Hui-Ling Yang & Wei-Pang Wu - 2009 - Journal of Moral Education 38 (3):335-351.
Sidetracked by Trolleys: Why Sacrificial Moral Dilemmas Tell Us Little (or Nothing) About Utilitarian Judgment.Guy Kahane - 2015 - Social Neuroscience 10 (5):551-560.
The Neural Basis of Intuitive and Counterintuitive Moral Judgement.Guy Kahane, Katja Wiech, Nicholas Shackel, Miguel Farias, Julian Savulescu & Irene Tracey - 2011 - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 7 (4):393-402.
Reasons-Based Moral Judgment and the Erotetic Theory.Philipp Koralus & Mark Alfano - 2017 - In Jean-Francois Bonnefon & Bastian Tremoliere (eds.), Moral Inference.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2017-03-09
Total views
549 ( #11,042 of 2,410,101 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
90 ( #7,216 of 2,410,101 )
2017-03-09
Total views
549 ( #11,042 of 2,410,101 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
90 ( #7,216 of 2,410,101 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads