Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1.
Task design. The first slide describes the dilemma, including two possible options. The utilitarian option minimizes the overall amount of harm (e.g., saves five lives), but involves actively harming someone. The nonutilitarian/deontological option does not involve active harm, but it fails to minimize harm. The second screen summarizes the two options, randomly labeling them “A” or “B.” The third screen prompts the subject to respond in one of three ways depending on condition. Subjects have 12 s to respond using a four-point scale.
- Figure 2.
“All things considered” judgments (IMJ) reflect integration of competing moral considerations. Average regression slopes predicting “all things considered” moral judgments (IMJ) for each participant based on average EA and UA responses to the scenario from other participants. Participants rated the utilitarian option as more morally acceptable if other participants perceived that option as producing better results (high UA) and/or felt less bad about choosing that option (low EA). Scatterplot shows data from all individual IMJ trials relative to EA (red) and UA (blue) ratings.
- Figure 3.
The vmPFC exhibits increased BOLD signal for IMJ relative to EA and UA. Shown are whole-brain results for IMJ > EA (A) and IMJ > UA (B). Analyses use an anatomically defined vmPFC ROI. For visualization, maps are thresholded at voxelwise p < 0.005 with an extent threshold of 40 voxels. C, The conjunction of these two contrasts.
- Figure 4.
The amygdala's role in EA and IMJ. A, BOLD activity in the left amygdala tracked higher ratings of “feeling worse” about the utilitarian option in the EA condition. B, BOLD activity in the right amygdala tracked lower moral acceptability ratings for the utilitarian option in the “all things considered” (IMJ) condition. Analyses use anatomically defined amygdala ROIs. For visualization, maps are thresholded at voxelwise p < 0.005 with an extent threshold of 10 voxels. C, Overlapping activation for these two contrasts at a much reduced threshold (p < 0.05, uncorrected, masked by the anatomically defined bilateral amygdala ROI) suggests that these two processes may not be lateralized, despite the apparent lateralization in A and B.
Tables
Side Region Cluster-level p-value Cluster size (voxels) Peak voxel Z-score Peak voxel p-value MNI coordinates (mm) EA > IMJ B Pre-SMA <0.0001 1115 5.28 <0.0001 −4, 22, 62 B Precuneus 0.0006 533 5.14 <0.0001 −8, −58, 44 L Temporoparietal junction, middle temporal gyrus <0.0001 2376 5.06 <0.0001 −50, −52, 26 L Middle frontal gyrus (BA 8) <0.0001 1322 4.91 <0.0001 −42, 20, 46 L Ventrolateral PFC 0.0054 390 4.21 <0.0001 −50, 18, −6 R Temporoparietal junction 0.0027 434 3.97 <0.0001 46, −58, 30 L Inferior frontal gyrus 0.0028 432 3.54 0.0002 −42, 52, 2 R Cerebellum* 0.0799 232 3.61 0.0002 22, −80, −32 IMJ > EA R Primary, secondary somatosensory cortex, central insula, amygdala <0.0001 3836 4.80 <0.0001 60, −28, 22 B Medial orbitofrontal cortex/vmPFC 0.0003 576 4.58 <0.0001 0, 36, −12 L Primary, secondary somatosensory cortex, central insula, amygdala <0.0001 1183 4.27 <0.0001 −36, 6, −8 R Postcentral gyrus* 0.0743 236 4.41 <0.0001 30, −46, 72 IMJ > UA B Dorsomedial PFC* 0.0538 266 3.64 0.0001 0, 52, 38 UA > IMJ R Inferior frontal gyrus (BA 9/44) 0.0331 295 4.66 <0.0001 48, 6, 30 L Intraparietal sulcus 0.0074 389 4.01 <0.0001 −32, −72, 32 R Intraparietal sulcus 0.0109 364 3.95 <0.0001 30, −74, 40 UA > EA R Posterior cingulate cortex 0.0114 370 4.61 <0.0001 16, −36, 36 R Primary, secondary somatosensory cortex, central insula, inferior frontal gyrus (BA 9/44) <0.0001 2339 4.15 <0.0001 50, −36, 34 R Intraparietal sulcus <0.0001 947 4.10 <0.0001 30, −72, 40 L Primary, secondary somatosensory cortex, central insula 0.0018 497 3.87 0.0001 −48, −4, 6 EA > UA L Temporoparietal junction <0.0001 955 4.62 <0.0001 −54, −60, 26 B Precuneus 0.0084 390 4.56 <0.0001 −6, −58, 44 R Cerebellum 0.017 344 4.39 <0.0001 22, −80, −32 L Ventrolateral PFC 0.0001 713 4.29 <0.0001 −54, 18, 6 L Middle frontal gyrus (BA 8) 0.0003 643 4.21 <0.0001 −32, 14, 42 B Pre-SMA, superior frontal gyrus <0.0001 1054 4.11 <0.0001 −4, 34, 62 L Inferior frontal gyrus 0.0018 497 3.96 <0.0001 −46, 42, 0 R Temporoparietal junction 0.0496 277 3.87 0.0001 58, −60, 24 ↵Significant clusters of activation for each of the condition-wise contrasts between EA, UA, and IMJ thresholded at voxel-wise p < 0.005 and whole-brain FWE corrected at cluster-wise p < 0.05 are shown. Clusters that were marginally significant (p < 0.10) at this cluster-wise threshold are marked with an asterisk (*). No activations survived this whole-brain correction when examining either positive or negative correlations with EA or IMJ ratings.
In this issue
