Russian Psychological Issues PsyJournals.ru
RUSSIANENGLISH
Log In | Sign Up
OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS
JournalsTopicsAuthorsEditor's Choice Manuscript SubmissionAbout PsyJournals.ruContact Us

  Previous issue (2021. Vol. 10, no. 4)

Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology

Publisher: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education

ISSN (online): 2304-4977

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published since 2012

Published quarterly

Free of fees
Open Access Journal

  

Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology
2020. Vol. 9, no. 2, 67–81
doi:10.17759/jmfp.2020090206
ISSN: 2304-4977 (online)

Brain activity during moral judgement of action 412

|

Arutyunova K.R.
PhD in Psychology, Associate Researcher, V.B. Shvyrkov Laboratory of Neural Bases of Mind, Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3056-5670
e-mail: arutyunova@inbox.ru

Sozinova I.M.
Researcher, Laboratory of Neurocognitive Research of Individual Experience Institute of Experimental Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9422-8748
e-mail: eiole@yandex.ru

Alexandrov Y.I.
Doctor of Psychology, Head the Laboratory of the Institute of Psychology RAS and Head. the Department of Psychophysiology State University of Humanitarian Sciences, Institute of Psychology Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2644-3016
e-mail: yuraalexandrov@yandex.ru

Abstract
Interdisciplinary studies of cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms of moral judgement often combine tools borrowed from philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. In this work, we review the studies of brain activity during moral judgement at different stages of individual development. Generally, it has been shown that moral judgement is accompanied by activations in brain areas related to emotion and social cognition; and these activations may vary across individuals of different age groups. We discuss these data from the positions of the system-evolutionary theory and compare our view with the domain-general approach to cognitive processes and brain activity underlying moral judgement. We suggest that moral judgement, as part of individual behaviour, is supported by activity of functional systems formed at different stages of individual development; therefore brain activity during moral judgement is accounted for by the specificity of distribution of neural elements of functional systems across the brain structures, which is determined by the history of an individual’s interactions with the environment.

Keywords: morality, moral judgement, brain, emotion, social cognition, system-evolutionary theory, subjective experience, functional systems

Column: Neurosciences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2020090206

Funding. Analysis of experimental research of brain activity during moral judgement of action was supported by RFFR № 18-313-20003_mol_a_ved. Analysis of experimental research of brain activity during moral judgement at different stages of individual development was supported by MSUPE research project «Social aspects of individual experience development during ontogenesis».

For Reference

References
  1. Aleksandrov I.O. Formirovanie struktury individual'nogo znaniya [The formation of the structure of individual knowledge]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN, 2006. 560 p. (In Russ).
  2. Aleksandrov Yu.I. Zakonomernosti aktualizatsii individual'nogo opyta i reorganizatsii ego sistemnoi struktury: kompleksnoe issledovanie [Patterns of actualization of individual experience and reorganization of its system structure: a comprehensive study] [Elektronnyi resurs]. Trudy ISA RAN = [Proceedings of the Institute for System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2011. Vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 3–25. URL: https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=18153346& (Accessed 02.06.2020). (In Russ).
  3. Aleksandrov Yu.I. Ot emotsii k soznaniyu. In Ushakova D.V. (ed.), Psikhologiya tvorchestva: Shkola Ya.A. Ponomareva = [Psychology of creativity: School Y.A. Ponomareva]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN, 2006, pp. 5–28. (In Russ).
  4. Aleksandrov Yu.I. Psikhofiziologicheskoe znachenie aktivnosti tsentral'nykh i perifericheskikh neironov v povedenii = [Psychophysiological significance of the activity of central and peripheral neurons in behavior]. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. 206 p. (In Russ).
  5. Aleksandrov Yu.I. Sistemnaya psikhofiziologiya. In Aleksandrov Yu.I. (ed.), Psikhofiziologiya = [Psychophysiology]. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001, pp. 263–234. (In Russ).
  6. Aleksandrov Yu.I., Aleksandrova N.L. Sub"ektivnyi opyt, kul'tura i sotsial'nye predstavleniya = [Subjective experience, culture and social representations] [Elektronnyi resurs]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN, 2009. 319 p. URL: http://mhp-journal.ru/upload/Library/Alexandrov_YuI_Alexandrova_NL_(2009)_Subjective_Experience_Culture_and_Social_Representations.pdf (Accessed 02.06.2020). (In Russ).
  7. Arutyunova K.R., Aleksandrov Yu.I. Moral' i sub"ektivnyi opyt [Morality and subjective experience]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN, 2019. 188 p. (In Russ).
  8. Gorkin A.G., Shevchenko D.G. Otrazhenie struktury pamyati v aktivnosti sistemospetsifichnykh neironov [Reflection of the memory structure in the activity of system-specific neurons]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal = Psychological Journal, 1991. Vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 60–69. (In Russ).
  9. Guseinov A.A. Nravstvennost' v svete negativnoi etiki [Morality in the light of negative ethics]. In Zubets O.P. (ed.), Moral': raznoobrazie ponyatii i smyslov: sbornik nauchnykh trudov. K 75-letiyu akademika A.A. Guseinova = [Moral: a variety of concepts and meanings: a collection of scientific papers. To the 75th anniversary of academician A.A. Huseynova]. Moscow: Al'fa-M, 2014, pp. 13–34. (In Russ).
  10. Dyurkgeim E. O razdelenii obshchestvennogo truda. Metod sotsiologii = [On the division of social labor. The method of sociology]. Moscow: Nauka, 1991. 575 p. (In Russ).
  11. Aleksandrov Yu.I. et al. Zakonomernosti formirovaniya i realizatsii individual'nogo opyta [Patterns of formation and implementation of individual experience]. Zhurnal vysshei nervnoi deyatel'nosti im. I.P. Pavlova = [Journal of Higher Nervous Activity named after I.P. Pavlova], 1997. Vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 243–260. (In Russ).
  12. Karpov A.P. Organizatsiya aktivnosti neironov obonyatel'noi lukovitsy v pishchedobyvatel'nom povedenii [Organization of the activity of olfactory bulb neurons in food-producing behavior]. Sistemnyi podkhod k psikhofiziologicheskoi problem = [System approach to the psychophysiological problem]. Moscow: Nauka, 1982, pp. 193–201. (In Russ).
  13. Aleksandrov Yu.I. et al. Regressiya kak etap razvitiya [Regression as a stage of development]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN, 2017. 191 p. (In Russ).
  14. Shadrikov V.D. Povedenie kak faktor formirovaniya sovesti = [Behavior as a factor in the formation of conscience] [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologiya = [Psychology], 2006. Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 3–13. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/pokayanie-kak-faktor-formirovaniya-sovesti (Accessed 02.06.2020). (In Russ).
  15. Shvyrkov V.B. Vvedenie v ob"ektivnuyu psikhologiyu: neironal'nye osnovy psikhiki = [Introduction to objective psychology: the neuronal foundations of the psyche]. Moskva: Institut psikhologii RAN, 1995. 162 p. (In Russ).
  16. Shvyrkov V.B. Izuchenie aktivnosti neironov kak metod psikhofiziologicheskogo issledovaniya povedeniya. Neirony v povedenii: sistemnye aspekty = [The study of neuronal activity as a method of psychophysiological study of behavior. Neurons in behavior: systemic aspects]. Moscow: Nauka, 1986, pp. 6–25. (In Russ).
  17. Shvyrkov V.B. Sistemnaya determinatsiya aktivnosti neironov v povedenii = [Systemic determination of neuron activity in behavior]. Uspekhi fiziologicheskikh nauk = [Advances in Physiological Sciences], 1983. Vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 45–66. (In Russ).
  18. Alexandrov Yu.I., Krylov A.K., Arutyunova K.R. Activity during learning and the nonlinear differentiation of experience [Elektronnyi resurs]. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 2017. Vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 391–405. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karina_Arutyunova/publication/320418200_Activity_during_Learning_and_the_Nonlinear_Differentiation_of_Experience/links/5dbdf54992851c818025fc6b/Activity-during-Learning-and-the-Nonlinear-Differentiation-of-Experience.pdf (Accessed 02.06.2020).
  19. Alexandrov Yu.I., Sams M.E. Emotion and consciousness: ends of a continuum. Cognitive Brain Research, 2005. Vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 387–405. DOI:10.11621/pir.2009.0008
  20. Greene J.D. et al. An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 2001. Vol. 293, no. 5537, pp. 2105–2108. DOI:10.1126/science.1062872
  21. Heekeren H.R. et al. An fMRI study of simple ethical decision-making. Neuroreport, 2003. Vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 1215–1219.
  22. Baumard N., Boyer P. Explaining moral religions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2013. Vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 272–280. DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2013.04.003
  23. Cheng Y., Chen C., Decety J. An EEG/ERP investigation of the development of empathy in early and middle childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2014. Vol. 10, pp. 160–169. DOI:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.012
  24. Cowell J.M., Decety J. The neuroscience of implicit moral evaluation and its relation to generosity in early childhood. Current Biology, 2015. Vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 93–97. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.002
  25. Koenigs M. et al. Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgments. Nature, 2007. Vol. 446, no. 7138, pp. 908–911. DOI:10.1038/nature05631
  26. Darby R.R., Pascual-Leone A. Moral enhancement using non-invasive brain stimulation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017. Vol. 11, article ID 77, pp. 77. DOI:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00077
  27. Decety J., Cacioppo S. The speed of morality: a high-density electrical neuroimaging study. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2012. Vol. 108, no. 11, pp. 3068–3072. DOI:10.1152/jn.00473.2012
  28. Decety J., Michalska K.J., Kinzler K.D. The contribution of emotion and cognition to moral sensitivity: a neurodevelopmental study. Cerebral Cortex, 2012. Vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 209–220. DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhr111
  29. Young L.L. et al. Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgments. PNAS, 2010. Vol. 107, no. 15, pp. 6753–6758. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0914826107
  30. Dubljević V., Racine E. Moral enhancement meets normative and empirical reality: assessing the practical feasibility of moral enhancement neurotechnologies. Bioethics, 2017. Vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 338–348. DOI:10.1111/bioe.12355
  31. Earp B.D., Douglas T., Savulescu J. Moral enhancement. In Johnson L.S.M., Rommelfanger K.S. (eds.), Routledge Handbook for Neuroethics. New York: Routledge, 2017. 20 p.
  32. Alexandrov Yu.L. et al. Formation and realization of individual experience in humans and animals: A psychophysiological approach. In Miller R., Ivanitsky A.M., Balaban P.M. (eds.), Conceptual Advances in Brain Research. Vol. 2. Complex brain functions. Conceptual advances in Russian neuroscience. Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000, pp. 181–200.
  33. Moll J. et al. Functional networks in emotional moral and nonmoral social judgments. NeuroImage, 2002. Vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 696–703. DOI:10.1006/nimg.2002.1118
  34. Funk C.M., Gazzaniga M.S. The functional brain architecture of human morality. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 2009. Vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 678–681. DOI:10.1016/j.conb.2009.09.011
  35. Harenski C.L. et al. Gender differences in neural mechanisms underlying moral sensitivity. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2008. Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 313–321. DOI:10.1093/scan/nsn026
  36. Harenski C.L., Hamaan S. Neural correlates of regulating negative emotions related to moral violations. NeuroImage, 2006. Vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 313–324. DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.09.034
  37. Kuo W.-J. et al. Intuition and deliberation: two systems for strategizing in the brain. Science, 2009. Vol. 324, no. 5926, pp. 519–522. DOI:10.1126/science.1165598
  38. Krill A., Platek S.M. In-group and out-group membership mediates anterior cingulate activation to social exclusion. Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, 2009. Vol. 1, article ID 1, 7 p. DOI:10.3389/neuro.18.001.2009
  39. Mendez M., Anderson E., Shapira J. An investigation of moral judgment in frontotemporal dementia. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 2005. Vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 193–197. DOI:10.1097/01.wnn.0000191292.17964.bb
  40. Moll J., Eslinger P.J., de Oliveira-Souza R. Frontopolar and anterior temporal cortex activation in a moral judgment task: preliminary functionalMRI results in normal subjects. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 2001. Vol. 59, no. 3-B, pp. 657–664. DOI:10.1590/S0004-282X2001000500001
  41. Harenski С.L. et al. Neural development of mentalizing in moral judgment from adolescence to adulthood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2012. Vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 162–173. DOI:10.1016/j.dcn.2011.09.002
  42. Völlm B.A. et al. Neuronal correlates of theory of mind and empathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in a nonverbal task. Neuroimage, 2006. Vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 90–98. DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.07.022
  43. Pascual L., Rodrigues P., Gallardo-Pujol D. How does morality work in the brain? A functional and structural perspective of moral behavior. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 2013. Vol. 7, no. 65, 8 p. DOI:10.3389/fnint.2013.00065
  44. Phelps E.A. et al. Performance on indirect measures of race evaluation predicts amygdala activation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2000. Vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 729–738. DOI:10.1162/089892900562552
  45. Persson I., Savulescu J. The duty to be morally enhanced. Topoi, 2019. Vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 7–14. DOI:10.1007/s11245-017-9475-7
  46. Boniface S., Ziemann U. (eds.). Plasticity in the human nervous system: Investigations with transcranial magnetic stimulation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 317 p.
  47. Marsh A.A. et al. Reduced amygdala–orbitofrontal connectivity during moral judgments in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2011. Vol. 194, no. 3, pp. 279–286. DOI:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.07.008
  48. Rolls E.T. The orbitofrontal cortex and reward. Cerebral Cortex, 2000. Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 284–294. DOI:10.1093/cercor/10.3.284
  49. Riva P. et al. Selective changes in moral judgment by noninvasive brain stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 2019. Vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 797–810. DOI:10.3758/s13415-018-00664-1
  50. Cunningham W.A. et al. Separable neural components in the processing of black and white faces. Psychological Science, 2004. Vol. 15, no. 12, pp. 806–813. DOI:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00760.x
  51. Shulman R.G., Hyder F., Rothman D.L. Insights from neuroenergetics into the interpretation of functional neuroimaging: an alternative empirical model for studying the brain's support of behavior. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2014. Vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 1721–1735. DOI:10.1038/jcbfm.2014.145
  52. Shulman R.G., Rothman D.L. A non-cognitive behavioral model for interpreting functional neuroimaging studies. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2019. Vol. 13, article ID 28, 18 p. DOI:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00028
  53. Sowden S., Catmur C. The role of the right temporoparietal junction in the control of imitation. Cerebral Cortex, 2015. Vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 1107–1113. DOI:10.1093/cercor/bht306
  54. Baumgartner T. et al. The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement. Human Brain Mapping, 2012. Vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1452–1469. DOI:10.1002/hbm.21298
  55. Greene J.D. et al. The neural bases of cognitive conflict and control in moral judgment. Neuron. 2004. Vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 389–400. DOI:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.09.027
  56. Moll J. et al. The neural correlates of moral sensitivity: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of basic and moral emotions. Journal of Neuroscience, 2002. Vol. 22, no. 7, pp. 2730–2736. DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.22-07-02730.2002
  57. Ellemers N. et al. The psychology of morality: a review and analysis of empirical studies published from 1940 through 2017. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2019. Vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 332–366. DOI:10.1177/1088868318811759
  58. Damasio H. et al. The return of Phineas Gage: clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient. Science, 1994. Vol. 264, no. 5162, pp. 1102–1105. DOI:10.1126/science.8178168
  59. Van Bavel J.J., FeldmanHall O., Mende-Siedlecki P. The neuroscience of moral cognition: From dual processes to dynamic systems. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2015. Vol. 6, pp. 167–172. DOI:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.08.009
  60. Van Bavel J.J., Packer D.J., Cunningham W.A. The neural substrates of in-group bias: a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation. Psychological Science, 2008. Vol. 19, no. 11, pp. 1131–1139. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02214.x
  61. Vogel G. The evolution of the Golden rule. Science, 2004. Vol. 303, no. 5661, pp. 1128–1131. DOI:10.1126/science.303.5661.1128
  62. Wiseman H. The myth of the moral brain: The limits of moral enhancement. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016. 337 p.
  63. Yoder K.J., Decety J. Spatiotemporal neural dynamics of moral judgment: A high-density ERP study. Neuropsychologia, 2014. Vol. 60, pp. 39–45. DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.05.022
  64. Young L., Dungan J. Where in the brain is morality? Everywhere and maybe nowhere. Social Neuroscience, 2012. Vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1–10. DOI:10.1080/17470919.2011.569146
  65. Young L., Saxe R. The neural basis of belief encoding and integration in moral judgment. NeuroImage, 2008. Vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 1912–1920. DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.01.057
  
About PsyJournals.ru

© 2007–2022 Portal of Russian Psychological Publications. All rights reserved

PsyJournals.ru in Russian

Publisher: Moscow State University of Psychology and Education

Catalogue of academic journals in psychology & education MSUPE

Creative Commons License Open Access Repository     Webometrics Ranking of Repositories

 RSS Psyjournals at Youtube ??????.???????