Hu Chunling, Wu Ruoxi, Wang Chenbo
Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE&STCSM), Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2024 Dec 5;19(1). doi: 10.1093/scan/nsae081.
Pain may initially contribute to the evolution of moral decision-making as it elicits avoidance behavior. The current study aims to support this perspective by conducting a behavioral study to investigate whether pain leads to a self-oriented tendency and an exploratory electroencephalogram (EEG) study to examine how pain affects moral decision-making. In Experiment 1, 34 participants were recruited and treated with both capsaicin (pain condition) and hand cream (control condition) in separate days. After treatment, they were asked to complete a third-party punishment task. Results showed that pain increased punishment and decreased compensation towards unfair allocations in the task. In Experiment 2, 68 participants with either pain or control treatment participated in an EEG experiment. It revealed that pain enlarged the disparity of late positive potential (LPP) between fair and unfair situations, suggesting that individuals in pain may exert more cognitive effort when facing unfair allocations. Meanwhile, pain did not affect the early components P2 and the medial frontal negativity, indicating unaffected attentional or anticipatory responses toward unfairness. It demonstrates that pain can effectively modulate responses to unfairness, manifesting as a self-oriented approach with negative consequences for others. It suggests a potential evolutionary impact of pain on moral decisions.
疼痛最初可能会促进道德决策的演变，因为它会引发回避行为。当前的研究旨在通过开展一项行为研究来支持这一观点，该行为研究旨在调查疼痛是否会导致自我导向倾向，同时开展一项探索性脑电图（EEG）研究，以检验疼痛如何影响道德决策。在实验1中，招募了34名参与者，在不同的日子里分别用辣椒素（疼痛条件）和护手霜（对照条件）进行处理。处理后，要求他们完成一项第三方惩罚任务。结果表明，疼痛增加了对任务中不公平分配的惩罚，并减少了补偿。在实验2中，68名接受疼痛或对照处理的参与者参加了一项脑电图实验。结果显示，疼痛扩大了公平和不公平情境之间晚期正电位（LPP）的差异，这表明处于疼痛中的个体在面对不公平分配时可能会付出更多的认知努力。同时，疼痛并未影响早期成分P2和内侧额叶负波，表明对不公平的注意力或预期反应未受影响。这表明疼痛可以有效地调节对不公平的反应，表现为一种对他人有负面后果的自我导向方式。这暗示了疼痛对道德决策的潜在进化影响。
