The Physical Basis of Moral Judgments

A recent study by Michael Koenigs, et al., Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex Increases Utilitarian Moral Judgments, published in the March 21, 2007 online version of Nature, demonstrates the effect of damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex on a person's ability to make normal judgments of right and wrong.  The authors conclude that in "high-conflict personal moral dilemmas" which feature "competing considerations of aggregate welfare on the one hand, and, on the other hand, harm to others that would normally evoke a strong social emotion," participants in the study with focal bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a brain region necessary for the normal generation of emotions, particularly 'social emotions,' appeared to "rely on explicit norms endorsing the maximization of aggregate welfare and prohibiting the harming of others."  According to an article by Benedict Carey in March 22, 2007, edition of The New York Times, p. A19, participants with "ventromedial injuries were about twice as likely as other participants to say they would push someone in front of the train (if that was the only option)..." Some of the questions asked of the study participants can be found in a March 22, 2007, article by Roxanne Khamsi at NewScientist.com. 

Posted by Mary McCormick