Delgado-Sánchez Ariane
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK, KY16 9JP.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2020 Dec 31;19(1):R4-R6. eCollection 2020 Fall.
Moral judgement has been a topic of great interest through the history of philosophy and psychology, but the neural basis of this behavior remains elusive. Greene et al.'s (2001 paper is a pioneering one that opened doors to studying the neuroscience of moral judgement. Greene and colleagues used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in humans as they grappled with moral decisions. The researchers found higher activation in brain areas associated with emotion when subjects were processing dilemmas in which an individual was directly hurt, and higher activation of areas associated with working memory when subjects processed dilemmas in which individuals were hurt as a consequence of an indirect action. The paper has received some criticism, but overall, is still quite relevant in the field. This work generated the field of moral neuroscience and has sparked further research and controversy. This paper's impact at the intersection of psychology and neuroscience and its engaging topic make it valuable for teaching. Furthermore, criticism of the paper also has pedagogic value as it can serve as a tool to promote students' critical evaluation skills. The presentation of this research would be best suited for Neuroscience and Psychology students being introduced to Cognitive Neuroscience.
道德判断一直是贯穿哲学和心理学历史的一个备受关注的话题，但这种行为的神经基础仍然难以捉摸。格林等人2001年的论文是开创性的，为研究道德判断的神经科学打开了大门。格林及其同事使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来测量人类在处理道德决策时的大脑活动。研究人员发现，当受试者处理涉及个人直接受到伤害的困境时，与情绪相关的脑区激活程度更高；而当受试者处理个人因间接行为而受到伤害的困境时，与工作记忆相关的脑区激活程度更高。该论文受到了一些批评，但总体而言，在该领域仍然相当有相关性。这项工作开创了道德神经科学领域，并引发了进一步的研究和争议。这篇论文在心理学和神经科学交叉领域的影响力以及其引人入胜的主题使其在教学中具有价值。此外，对该论文的批评也具有教学价值，因为它可以作为促进学生批判性评估技能的工具。这项研究的展示最适合刚接触认知神经科学的神经科学和心理学专业学生。
