Domínguez D Juan F, van Nunspeet Félice, Gupta Ayushi, Eres Robert, Louis Winnifred R, Decety Jean, Molenberghs Pascal
a School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences , Monash University , Melbourne , Australia.
b Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences , Utrecht University , Utrecht , Netherlands.
Soc Neurosci. 2018 Dec;13(6):739-755. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1392342. Epub 2017 Oct 26.
The role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in moral decision-making is well established. However, OFC activity is highly context dependent. It is affected by the extent to which choices are morally justified and whom they concern. In the current study, we specifically focus on contextual factors and investigate the differential role of the OFC during justified and unjustified violence towards ingroup versus outgroup members. Muslims were chosen as the outgroup, as they are currently stereotypically seen as an outgroup and a potential threat by some Non-Muslims. Importantly, we also introduce a context where participants are the actual agents responsible for doing harm. During fMRI scanning, Non-Muslim participants had to decide to either shoot a Non-Muslim (i.e., ingroup member) or Muslim (outgroup member) depending on whether they believed the target was holding a gun or an object. Neuroimaging results showed increased activation in the lateral OFC (lOFC) in the three contrasts that were distressing: 1) during unjustifiable killing; 2) when being killed; and 3) when confronted by an outgroup member with a gun. Together, these results provide important insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in intergroup violence and highlight the critical role of the lOFC in context dependent social decision-making.
眶额皮质（OFC）在道德决策中的作用已得到充分证实。然而，OFC的活动高度依赖于情境。它受到选择在道德上的正当性程度以及所涉及对象的影响。在当前的研究中，我们特别关注情境因素，并研究在对 ingroup 成员与 outgroup 成员实施正当和不正当暴力行为期间，OFC的不同作用。选择穆斯林作为 outgroup，因为他们目前在一些非穆斯林眼中被刻板地视为一个 outgroup 和潜在威胁。重要的是，我们还引入了一种情境，即参与者是实际造成伤害的主体。在功能磁共振成像扫描期间，非穆斯林参与者必须根据他们是否认为目标手持枪支或其他物品，决定是否射杀一名非穆斯林（即 ingroup 成员）或穆斯林（outgroup 成员）。神经影像学结果显示，在三种令人痛苦的对比情况下，外侧眶额皮质（lOFC）的激活增加：1）在不合理杀戮期间；2）在被杀害时；3）当面对一名手持枪支的 outgroup 成员时。总之，这些结果为群体间暴力行为所涉及的神经认知机制提供了重要见解，并突出了lOFC在依赖情境的社会决策中的关键作用。
