Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Southern California, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2006 Dec;1(3):203-13. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsl033.
A common feature of the antisocial, rule-breaking behavior that is central to criminal, violent and psychopathic individuals is the failure to follow moral guidelines. This review summarizes key findings from brain imaging research on both antisocial behavior and moral reasoning, and integrates these findings into a neural moral model of antisocial behavior. Key areas found to be functionally or structurally impaired in antisocial populations include dorsal and ventral regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, hippocampus, angular gyrus, anterior cingulate and temporal cortex. Regions most commonly activated in moral judgment tasks consist of the polar/medial and ventral PFC, amygdala, angular gyrus and posterior cingulate. It is hypothesized that the rule-breaking behavior common to antisocial, violent and psychopathic individuals is in part due to impairments in some of the structures (dorsal and ventral PFC, amygdala and angular gyrus) subserving moral cognition and emotion. Impairments to the emotional component that comprises the feeling of what is moral is viewed as the primary deficit in antisocials, although some disruption to the cognitive and cognitive-emotional components of morality (particularly self-referential thinking and emotion regulation) cannot be ruled out. While this neurobiological predisposition is likely only one of several biosocial processes involved in the etiology of antisocial behavior, it raises significant moral issues for the legal system and neuroethics.
反社会、违反规则的行为是犯罪、暴力和精神病态个体的核心特征，其共同特征是未能遵循道德准则。这篇综述总结了反社会行为和道德推理的脑成像研究的关键发现，并将这些发现整合到反社会行为的神经道德模型中。在反社会人群中发现功能或结构受损的关键区域包括背侧和腹侧前额叶皮层（PFC）、杏仁核、海马体、角回、前扣带和颞叶皮层。在道德判断任务中最常激活的区域包括极/内侧和腹侧 PFC、杏仁核、角回和后扣带。假设反社会、暴力和精神病态个体共有的违反规则行为部分归因于一些结构（背侧和腹侧 PFC、杏仁核和角回）在道德认知和情感方面的损伤。虽然不能排除对道德的认知和认知情感成分（特别是自我参照思维和情绪调节）的一些破坏，但被视为反社会者的主要缺陷是构成道德感的情感成分受损。虽然这种神经生物学倾向可能只是反社会行为病因学中涉及的几个生物社会过程之一，但它给法律系统和神经伦理学带来了重大的道德问题。
