Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy.
Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2020 Dec;20(6):1336-1348. doi: 10.3758/s13415-020-00841-1. Epub 2020 Oct 29.
The neuroscience interest for moral decision-making has recently increased. To investigate the processes underlying moral behavior, this research aimed to investigate neurophysiological and behavioral correlates of decision-making in moral contexts. Specifically, functional Near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) allowed to record oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) cerebral hemoglobin concentrations during different moral conditions (professional fit, company fit, social fit) and offers types (fair, unfair, neutral). Moreover, individuals' responses to offers types and reaction time (RTs) were considered. Specifically, from hemodynamic results emerged a difference in O2Hb and HHb activity according to moral conditions and offers types in different brain regions. In particular, O2Hb increase and a HHb decrease were observed in ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (VMPFC, DLPFC) for fair offers in professional fit condition and in superior temporal sulcus (STS) for unfair offers in social fit condition. Moreover, an increase of left O2Hb activity in professional fit condition and in right VMPFC for unfair offers in company fit condition was observed. In addition, from behavioral results, an RTs increase in company and social fit condition for fair and unfair offers emerged. This study, therefore, shows the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of moral decision-making that guide moral behavior in different context, such as company one.
神经科学对道德决策的兴趣最近有所增加。为了研究道德行为的背后过程，本研究旨在调查道德情境下决策的神经生理和行为相关性。具体来说，功能性近红外光谱（fNIRS）允许在不同的道德条件（职业匹配、公司匹配、社会匹配）和提供类型（公平、不公平、中性）下记录氧合（O2Hb）和去氧（HHb）脑血红蛋白浓度。此外，还考虑了个体对提供类型的反应和反应时间（RTs）。具体来说，从血液动力学结果中出现了根据道德条件和不同脑区提供类型的 O2Hb 和 HHb 活性差异。特别是，在职业匹配条件下，公平提供的情况下观察到腹内侧前额叶皮层（VMPFC，DLPFC）O2Hb 增加和 HHb 减少，在社会匹配条件下不公平提供的情况下观察到上颞叶回（STS）HHb 减少。此外，还观察到在公司匹配条件下不公平提供的情况下，左 VMPFC 的 O2Hb 活性增加。此外，从行为结果中，在公司和社会匹配条件下，公平和不公平的提供都出现了 RTs 的增加。因此，这项研究表明了道德决策的行为和神经生理相关性，这些相关性指导着不同情境下的道德行为，例如公司情境。
