Complexity Digest 2007.17 - 09
23-Apr-2007
Damage To The Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgements, Nature
Excerpts: Of central interest is whether emotions play a causal role in moral judgement, and, in parallel, how emotion-related areas of the brain contribute to moral judgement. Here we show that six patients with focal bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a brain region necessary for the normal generation of emotions and, in particular, social emotions, produce an abnormally ‘utilitarian' pattern of judgements on moral dilemmas that pit compelling considerations of aggregate welfare against highly emotionally aversive behaviours (for example, having to sacrifice one person's life to save a number of other lives).
- Source: Damage To The Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgements
[ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7138/full/nature05631.html ], Michael Koenigs, Liane Young, Ralph Adolphs, Daniel Tranel, Fiery Cushman, Marc Hauser, Antonio Damasio, DOI: 10.1038/nature05631, Nature 446, 908-911, 07/04/19