The neural basis of belief encoding and integration in moral judgment

Moral judgment in the mature state depends on "theory of mind", or the capacity to attribute mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires, and intentions) to moral agents. The current study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the cognitive processes for belief attribution in moral judgment. Participants read vignettes in a 2x2x2 design: protagonists produced either a negative or neutral outcome, based on the belief that they were causing the negative outcome or the neutral outcome; presentation of belief information either preceded or followed outcome information. In each case, participants judged the moral permissibility of the action. The results indicate that while the medial prefrontal cortex is recruited for processing belief valence, the temporo-parietal junction and precuneus are recruited for processing beliefs in moral judgment via two distinct component processes: (1) encoding beliefs and (2) integrating beliefs with other relevant features of the action (e.g., the outcome) for moral judgment.

[1]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Other minds in the brain: a functional imaging study of “theory of mind” in story comprehension , 1995, Cognition.

[2]  J. Decety,et al.  The Role of the Right Temporoparietal Junction in Social Interaction: How Low-Level Computational Processes Contribute to Meta-Cognition , 2007, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[3]  Joshua D. Greene,et al.  How (and where) does moral judgment work? , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[4]  Josef Perner,et al.  Do visual perspective tasks need theory of mind? , 2006, NeuroImage.

[5]  H. Walter,et al.  The intentional network: How the brain reads varieties of intentions , 2007, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  Jodie A. Baird,et al.  Do Preschoolers Appreciate That Identical Actions May Be Motivated by Different Intentions? , 2001 .

[7]  Aaron C. Koralek,et al.  Two Takes on the Social Brain: A Comparison of Theory of Mind Tasks , 2007, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[8]  Joshua Knobe,et al.  Theory of mind and moral cognition: exploring the connections , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[9]  Michael Koenigs,et al.  Investigating emotion in moral cognition: a review of evidence from functional neuroimaging and neuropsychology. , 2007, British medical bulletin.

[10]  B. Weiner.  Judgments of Responsibility: A Foundation for a Theory of Social Conduct , 1995 .

[11]  Beate Sodian,et al.  Neural correlates of true and false belief reasoning , 2007, NeuroImage.

[12]  Lindsey J. Powell,et al.  It's the Thought That Counts , 2006, Psychological science.

[13]  R. Saxe,et al.  Making sense of another mind: The role of the right temporo-parietal junction , 2005, Neuropsychologia.

[14]  J. Flavell,et al.  Cognitive development: children's knowledge about the mind. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[15]  Henry M. Wellman,et al.  The Early Development of Moral Criteria. , 1979 .

[16]  M. Siegal,et al.  Preschoolers' understanding of lies and innocent and negligent mistakes. , 1998, Developmental psychology.

[17]  J. Perner,et al.  Intentionality and knowledge in children's judgments of actor's responsibility and recipient's emotional reaction. , 1988 .

[18]  Rachel Karniol,et al.  Children's use of intention cues in evaluating behavior. , 1978 .

[19]  Jodie A. Baird,et al.  The role of mental state understanding in the development of moral cognition and moral action. , 2004, New directions for child and adolescent development.

[20]  L. Johnston.  It's the thought that counts-- , 1994 .

[21]  P. Manoury,et al.  The role of the conscious , 1984 .

[22]  J. Piaget.  The Moral Judgment of the Child , 1932 .

[23]  Jason P. Mitchell.  Activity in right temporo-parietal junction is not selective for theory-of-mind. , 2008, Cerebral cortex.

[24]  M. Kronbichler,et al.  Thinking of mental and other representations: The roles of left and right temporo-parietal junction , 2006, Social neuroscience.

[25]  M. Hauser,et al.  The Role of Conscious Reasoning and Intuition in Moral Judgment , 2006, Psychological science.

[26]  Uta Frith,et al.  Theory of mind , 2001, Current Biology.

[27]  Daniel C. Dennett,et al.  Beliefs about beliefs [P&W, SR&B] , 1978, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[28]  C. Frith,et al.  Reading the mind in cartoons and stories: an fMRI study of ‘theory of mind’ in verbal and nonverbal tasks , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[29]  Paul L. Harris,et al.  Psychological and deontic concepts: Separate domains or intimate connection? , 1998 .

[30]  Sunny Shin,et al.  Do 15-Month-Old Infants Understand False Beliefs ? , 2005 .

[31]  Philip David Zelazo,et al.  Intention, act, and outcome in behavioral prediction and moral judgment , 1996 .

[32]  Frank D. Fincham,et al.  Attribution of responsibility to the self and other in children and adults. , 1979 .

[33]  John Mikhail.  Opinion TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences Vol.11 No.4 Universal moral grammar: theory, evidence and the future , 2022 .

[34]  Thomas R. Shultz,et al.  Assignment of Moral Responsibility and Punishment. , 1986 .

[35]  M. Zanna,et al.  Making moral judgments. , 1982, American scientist.

[36]  R. Saxe,et al.  The neural basis of the interaction between theory of mind and moral judgment , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[37]  H. Wellman,et al.  Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: the truth about false belief. , 2001, Child development.

[38]  Jana Schaich Borg,et al.  Consequences, Action, and Intention as Factors in Moral Judgments: An fMRI Investigation , 2006, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[39]  K. Zilles,et al.  Mind Reading: Neural Mechanisms of Theory of Mind and Self-Perspective , 2001, NeuroImage.

[40]  Nelson-Le Gall,et al.  Motive-Outcome Matching and Outcome Foreseeability: Effects on Attribution of Intentionality and Moral Judgments. , 1985 .

[41]  J. Decety,et al.  What you believe versus what you think they believe: a neuroimaging study of conceptual perspective‐taking , 2003, The European journal of neuroscience.

[42]  Nicola Yuill,et al.  Young children's coordination of motive and outcome in judgements of satisfaction and morality , 1984 .

[43]  P W Hebble,et al.  The development of elementary school children's judgment of intent. , 1971, Child development.

[44]  R Saxe,et al.  People thinking about thinking people The role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind” , 2003, NeuroImage.

[45]  R. Grueneich,et al.  The Development of Children's Integration Rules for Making Moral Judgments. , 1982 .