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Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schaich Borg, J; Sinnott-Armstrong, W; Calhoun, VD; Kiehl, KA
Published in: Social neuroscience
January 2011

How people judge something to be morally right or wrong is a fundamental question of both the sciences and the humanities. Here we aim to identify the neural processes that underlie the specific conclusion that something is morally wrong. To do this, we introduce a novel distinction between "moral deliberation," or the weighing of moral considerations, and the formation of a "moral verdict," or the commitment to one moral conclusion. We predict and identify hemodynamic activity in the bilateral anterior insula and basal ganglia that correlates with committing to the moral verdict "this is morally wrong" as opposed to "this is morally not-wrong," a finding that is consistent with research from economic decision-making. Using comparisons of deliberation-locked vs. verdict-locked analyses, we also demonstrate that hemodynamic activity in high-level cortical regions previously implicated in morality--including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and temporoparietal junction--correlates primarily with moral deliberation as opposed to moral verdicts. These findings provide new insights into what types of processes comprise the enterprise of moral judgment, and in doing so point to a framework for resolving why some clinical patients, including psychopaths, may have intact moral judgment but impaired moral behavior.

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Published In

Social neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1747-0927

ISSN

1747-0919

Publication Date

January 2011

Volume

6

Issue

4

Start / End Page

398 / 413

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Morals
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Judgment
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Humans
 

Citation

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Schaich Borg, J., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Calhoun, V. D., & Kiehl, K. A. (2011). Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation. Social Neuroscience, 6(4), 398–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2011.559363
Schaich Borg, Jana, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Vince D. Calhoun, and Kent A. Kiehl. “Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation.Social Neuroscience 6, no. 4 (January 2011): 398–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2011.559363.
Schaich Borg J, Sinnott-Armstrong W, Calhoun VD, Kiehl KA. Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation. Social neuroscience. 2011 Jan;6(4):398–413.
Schaich Borg, Jana, et al. “Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation.Social Neuroscience, vol. 6, no. 4, Jan. 2011, pp. 398–413. Epmc, doi:10.1080/17470919.2011.559363.
Schaich Borg J, Sinnott-Armstrong W, Calhoun VD, Kiehl KA. Neural basis of moral verdict and moral deliberation. Social neuroscience. 2011 Jan;6(4):398–413.

Published In

Social neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1747-0927

ISSN

1747-0919

Publication Date

January 2011

Volume

6

Issue

4

Start / End Page

398 / 413

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Morals
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Judgment
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Humans