Monthly 208 pp. per issue 8 1/2 x 11, illustrated Founded: 1989 ISSN 0898-929X E-ISSN 1530-8898 2014 Impact Factor: 4.085
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August 2012, Vol. 24, No. 8, Pages 1657-1663
Posted Online June 22, 2012.
(doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00239)
© 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moral Values Are Associated with Individual Differences in Regional Brain Volume Gary J. Lewis1, Ryota Kanai2, Timothy C. Bates3, and Geraint Rees21University of California, Santa Barbara 2University College London 3University of Edinburgh
Moral sentiment has been hypothesized to reflect evolved adaptations to social living. If so, individual differences in moral values may relate to regional variation in brain structure. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 70 young, healthy adults examining whether differences on two major dimensions of moral values were significantly associated with regional gray matter volume. The two clusters of moral values assessed were “individualizing” (values of harm/care and fairness) and “binding” (deference to authority, in-group loyalty, and purity/sanctity). Individualizing was positively associated with left dorsomedial pFC volume and negatively associated with bilateral precuneus volume. For binding, a significant positive association was found for bilateral subcallosal gyrus and a trend to significance for the left anterior insula volume. These findings demonstrate that variation in moral sentiment reflects individual differences in brain structure and suggest a biological basis for moral sentiment, distributed across multiple brain regions. Cited byJames Dungan, Liane Young. 2015. Understanding the Adaptive Functions of Morality from a Cognitive Psychological Perspective. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences1-15. CrossRef Wouter Boekel, Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Luam Belay, Josine Verhagen, Scott Brown, Birte U. Forstmann. (2015) A purely confirmatory replication study of structural brain-behavior correlations. Cortex 66115-133. Online publication date: 1-May-2015. CrossRef Brian W. Haas, Alexandra Ishak, Ian W. Anderson, Megan M. Filkowski. (2015) The tendency to trust is reflected in human brain structure. NeuroImage 107175-181. Online publication date: 1-Feb-2015. CrossRef Scott Clifford, Vijeth Iyengar, Roberto Cabeza, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. (2015) Moral foundations vignettes: a standardized stimulus database of scenarios based on moral foundations theory. Behavior Research Methods. Online publication date: 13-Jan-2015. CrossRef G.J. Lewis, M.S. Panizzon, L. Eyler, C. Fennema-Notestine, C.-H. Chen, M.C. Neale, T.L. Jernigan, M.J. Lyons, A.M. Dale, W.S. Kremen, C.E. Franz. (2014) Heritable influences on amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex contribute to genetic variation in core dimensions of personality. NeuroImage. Online publication date: 1-Sep-2014. CrossRef Alexandra A. de Sousa, Michael J. Proulx. (2014) What can volumes reveal about human brain evolution? A framework for bridging behavioral, histometric, and volumetric perspectives. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 8. Online publication date: 25-Jun-2014. CrossRef G. J. Lewis, R. Kanai, G. Rees, T. C. Bates. (2014) Neural correlates of the 'good life': eudaimonic well-being is associated with insular cortex volume. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 9615-618. Online publication date: 1-May-2014. CrossRef Jenny Gu, Ryota Kanai. (2014) What contributes to individual differences in brain structure?. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8. Online publication date: 28-Apr-2014. CrossRef Jesse Graham, Jonathan Haidt, Sena Koleva, Matt Motyl, Ravi Iyer, Sean P. Wojcik, Peter H. Ditto. 2013. Moral Foundations Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology55-130. CrossRef
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