The neural basis of human moral cognition (Nature Neuroscience)

11 page article full of MRI scans trying to unravel what
parts of the brain light up as people make "moral judgements".

This ought to get the fundies knickers in a twist.

Free to anyone with a Nature login (which is not cheap).

arendt

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Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, 799-809 (2005); doi:10.1038/nrn1768


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Opinion
THE NEURAL BASIS OF HUMAN MORAL COGNITION

Jorge Moll1, Roland Zahn1, Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza2, Frank Krueger1 & Jordan Grafman1 about the authors

1 Jorge Moll, Roland Zahn, Frank Krueger and Jordan Grafman are at The Cognitive Neuroscience Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Building 10; Room 5C205; MSC 1440, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1440, USA.
2 Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza is at the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Unit, LABS-D'Or Hospital Network, R. Pinheiro Guimaraes 22, 3rd floor, Rio de Janeiro 22281-080, Brazil.


correspondence to: Jordan Grafman grafmanj@ninds.nih.gov

Moral cognitive neuroscience is an emerging field of research that focuses on the neural basis of uniquely human forms of social cognition and behaviour. Recent functional imaging and clinical evidence indicates that a remarkably consistent network of brain regions is involved in moral cognition. These findings are fostering new interpretations of social behavioural impairments in patients with brain dysfunction, and require new approaches to enable us to understand the complex links between individuals and society. Here, we propose a cognitive neuroscience view of how cultural and context-dependent knowledge, semantic social knowledge and motivational states can be integrated to explain complex aspects of human moral cognition.

they work for NIH.

arendt

doesn't it?

Maybe someday people running for public office will have to disclose their MRI findings along with financial statements. We won't stop them from running if it turns put they have a malfunction resulting in lack of moral understanding, but we ought to know about it before we vote.

We don't dare use this science as a "lie detector", a
"fingerprint", or a "DNA analysis". As the article points out,
moral judgements are heavily influenced by cultural norms.
So, a person could "test" as "moral", but that could be
within a very twisted cultural value system. That is, this
science could prove to be as "spoof-able" and beat-able as
today's lie detectors.

But the raw information is no more or less damaging than
any other kind of fact that is used today in the endless
mud-slinging and attack politics. So, I say go for it.

arendt

Sheri S. Tepper, a Sci-Fi author with a notable ecofeminist slant
("The Gate to Women's Country", etc.) has written about this
concept in several different novels.

In her most overt exposition (in the Jinian sequence of "The True
game" novels), she describes how midwives are used at many births
to assess whether or not the child just born "has a soul"; by this,
she means exactly whether or not it has this capability to make
acurate, appropriate moral judgements. Curiously enough, many
of the more villainous folks in the novel come from rich, more
isolated families where they eschew the services of the midwives.

It would be a great thing if we could objectively assess people's
MQ (Moral Quotient) before deciding to entrust them with something
of value (such as the stewardship of our country and planet).

Tesha

Thanks for the pointer to Ms Tepper.

I recall in the Philip Jose Farmer "Riverworld" series,
the aliens running the planet had devices which continuously
projected icons representing their mental processes, so
that anyone could observe if the words and the thought
processes were inconsistent.

The idea of being able to objectively see another person's
mental state has a strong pull, but it is still sci-fi.
Nevertheless, the research in this article is a step in
that direction.

Its too bad not many read even popularizations (Oliver Sachs,
Antony Damasio) of the bizarre thought processes that can occur
with brain damage.

arendt