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Published October 2012 | Published + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Differential neural circuitry and self-interest in real vs hypothetical moral decisions

Abstract

Classic social psychology studies demonstrate that people can behave in ways that contradict their intentions—especially within the moral domain. We measured brain activity while subjects decided between financial self-benefit (earning money) and preventing physical harm (applying an electric shock) to a confederate under both real and hypothetical conditions. We found a shared neural network associated with empathic concern for both types of decisions. However, hypothetical and real moral decisions also recruited distinct neural circuitry: hypothetical moral decisions mapped closely onto the imagination network, while real moral decisions elicited activity in the bilateral amygdala and anterior cingulate—areas essential for social and affective processes. Moreover, during real moral decision-making, distinct regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) determined whether subjects make selfish or pro-social moral choices. Together, these results reveal not only differential neural mechanisms for real and hypothetical moral decisions but also that the nature of real moral decisions can be predicted by dissociable networks within the PFC.

Additional Information

© 2012 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the originalwork is properly cited. Received 18 April 2012; Accepted 8 June 2012. Advance Access publication 18 June 2012. This research was supported by the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.

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Supplemental Material - nss069_Supplementary_Data.zip

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August 19, 2023
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