Li Xiaojing, Yang Juan, Li Peng, Li Hong
a Students' Affairs Division , Chongqing Normal University , Chongqing , China.
b Faculty of Psychology , Southwest University , Chongqing , China.
Soc Neurosci. 2016;11(4):438-48. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1093960. Epub 2015 Nov 16.
The weighing of intentions and consequences is inconsistent in adult's moral judgments, and this is particularly prominent when assigning blame to the immoral intentions in the absence of negative outcomes. The current study extends previous research by examining how individual differences in moral judgment competence are reflected in the cortical network when making judgments about immoral intentions. Twenty-four participants were scanned, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while making judgments about three kinds of moral scenarios: a neutral condition, an immoral intention condition, and an immoral condition. The result showed that comparing with making judgments about the other two conditions, making judgments about the immoral intentions takes longer time and was associated with significantly elevated activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Additionally, moral judgment competence scores were inversely correlated with activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when assigning blame to the immoral intentions. Greater activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in participants with lower moral judgment competence possibly reflected increased recruitment of cognitive resource applied to control impulsive response and integrate competitive information in making judgments about the immoral intention.
在成年人的道德判断中，对意图和后果的权衡并不一致，而这在没有负面结果却要归咎于不道德意图时尤为突出。当前的研究通过考察在对不道德意图进行判断时道德判断能力的个体差异如何在皮层网络中体现，扩展了先前的研究。24名参与者在使用功能磁共振成像扫描的同时，对三种道德情景进行判断：中性情景、不道德意图情景和不道德情景。结果显示，与对其他两种情景进行判断相比，对不道德意图进行判断花费的时间更长，并且与背外侧前额叶皮层和腹外侧前额叶皮层的显著活动增强有关。此外，在将责任归咎于不道德意图时，道德判断能力得分与右侧背外侧前额叶皮层的活动呈负相关。道德判断能力较低的参与者右侧背外侧前额叶皮层的活动增强，这可能反映出在对不道德意图进行判断时，为控制冲动反应和整合竞争性信息而增加了认知资源的调用。
