Department of General Psychology, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Apr;24(4):1018-29. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00146. Epub 2011 Oct 7.
This study investigated the temporal dynamics of emotional and cognitive processing underlying decision-making in moral judgment. Thirty-seven participants were presented with a set of 60 dilemmas varying in whether killing one individual was an intended means to save others (instrumental dilemmas) or a foreseen but unintended consequence (incidental dilemmas). Participants were required to decide between Options A (letting a specific number of people die) and B (killing one person to save a specific number of people). ERPs were recorded to a slide displaying the letters A and B while subjects were deciding between the options, and movement-related potentials were recorded time-locked to the behavioral response, thus allowing the investigation of both stimulus- and response-related processes during decision-making. Ratings of emotional valence and arousal experienced during decision-making were collected after each decision. Compared with incidental dilemmas, instrumental dilemmas prompted a lower number of B choices and significantly more unpleasant decisions. A larger P260 component was found in the frontopolar and frontal areas when subjects were deciding on instrumental than incidental dilemmas, possibly reflecting an immediate affective reaction during the early stage of assessment and formation of preferences between available options. On the other hand, decisions on incidental dilemmas required greater attentional resources during the fairly controlled later processing, as reflected in the larger slow wave amplitudes. In addition, facilitation of action selection and implementation was found for incidental dilemmas during the second stage of decision-making, as supported by the larger amplitudes of both components of the Bereitschaftspotential.
本研究旨在探讨道德判断决策中情感和认知加工的时间动态。37 名参与者被呈现了 60 个两难情境，这些情境在是否杀死一个人是一种旨在拯救他人的手段（工具性两难情境）还是一个预见但非预期的后果（意外两难情境）方面有所不同。参与者需要在选项 A（让特定数量的人死亡）和选项 B（杀死一个人以拯救特定数量的人）之间做出选择。在参与者做出选择时，记录了显示字母 A 和 B 的幻灯片上的 ERP，并且记录了与行为反应时间锁定的运动相关电位，从而允许在决策过程中同时研究刺激和反应相关的过程。在做出每个决策后，收集了参与者在决策过程中体验到的情绪效价和唤醒度的评分。与意外两难情境相比，工具性两难情境促使做出 B 选择的次数减少，且做出的决策明显不那么愉快。当参与者在工具性两难情境下做出决策时，在前额极和额区发现了更大的 P260 成分，这可能反映了在评估和形成可用选项之间的偏好的早期阶段的即时情感反应。另一方面，在相当受控的后期处理中，意外两难情境的决策需要更多的注意力资源，这反映在较慢的波幅度较大。此外，在决策的第二阶段，意外两难情境中的行动选择和实施得到了促进，这得到了准备电位的两个成分的更大振幅的支持。
