The Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, United States.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Jan;2(1):162-73. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.09.002.
The neural mechanisms underlying moral judgment have been extensively studied in healthy adults. How these mechanisms evolve from adolescence to adulthood has received less attention. Brain regions that have been consistently implicated in moral judgment in adults, including the superior temporal cortex and prefrontal cortex, undergo extensive developmental changes from adolescence to adulthood. Thus, their role in moral judgment may also change over time. In the present study, 51 healthy male participants age 13–53 were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they viewed pictures that did or did not depict situations considered by most individuals to represent moral violations, and rated their degree of moral violation severity. Consistent with predictions, a regression analysis revealed a positive correlation between age and hemodynamic activity in the temporo-parietal junction when participants made decisions regarding moral severity.This region is known to contribute to mentalizing processes during moral judgment in adults and suggests that adolescents use these types of inferences less during moral judgment than do adults. A positive correlation with age was also present in the posterior cingulate. Overall, the results suggest that the brain regions utilized in moral judgment change over development.
神经机制基础道德判断已在健康成年人中进行了广泛的研究。这些机制从青春期到成年期如何发展受到的关注较少。在成年人的道德判断中一直被涉及的大脑区域，包括颞顶叶皮层和前额叶皮层，从青春期到成年期经历了广泛的发育变化。因此，它们在道德判断中的作用也可能随时间而变化。在本研究中，对 51 名年龄在 13-53 岁的健康男性参与者进行了功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描，当他们观看被大多数人认为代表道德违规的情况的图片时，他们对道德违规的严重程度进行了评分。与预测一致，回归分析显示，当参与者对道德严重程度做出决定时，颞顶叶交界处的血流动力学活动与年龄呈正相关。该区域已知在成年人的道德判断中的心理化过程中做出贡献，表明青少年在道德判断中比成年人更少地使用这些类型的推理。在后扣带回中也存在与年龄呈正相关的关系。总的来说，结果表明，在发展过程中，用于道德判断的大脑区域发生了变化。
