Recent neuroeconomics/neuroethics studies

First, in Cerebral Cortex, a lesion study suggesting that the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VMF) in involved both in decisions under uncertainty and those that are not; moreover, "Subjects with VMF damage were significantly more inconsistent in their preferences than controls, whereas those with frontal damage that spared the VMF performed normally". In:

The Role of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Decision Making: Judgment under Uncertainty or Judgment Per Se? Fellows, L. K., & Farah, M. J. (2007). Cerebral Cortex, 17(11), 2669-2674.

Second, a study on norm compliance: subjects are fairer in Dictator games when third-party punishment is possible; Spitzer et al. identified the brain areas involved in this norm-compliant behavior (the lateral orbitofrontal cortex--correlated with Machiavellian personality characteristics--and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). In:

The Neural Signature of Social Norm Compliance Manfred Spitzer, Urs Fischbacher, Bärbel Herrnberger, Georg Grön and Ernst Fehr
Volume 56, Issue 1, 4 October 2007, Pages 185-196

See a review in ScienceNOW, and a mini-review on norm violation with a neuro-computational twist:

To Detect and Correct: Norm Violations and Their Enforcement, P. Read Montague and Terry Lohrenz, Neuron, Volume 56, Issue 1, 4 October 2007, Pages 14-18.

Related to that, a suggested reading:

• Sripada, C. S., & Stich, S. A framework for the psychology of norms. in P. Carruthers, S. Laurence & S. Stich, eds., Innateness and the Structure of the Mind, Vol. II (preprint)

Sripada & Stich analyse the structure of norms in social context and how it relate to cognitive processing.

The selective impairment of prosocial sentiments and the moral brain

Philosophers often describes the history of philosophy as a dispute between Plato (read: idealism/rationalism) and Aristotle (read:materialism/empiricism). It is of course extremely reductionist since many conceptual and empirical issues where not addressed in Ancient Greece, but there is a non-trivial interpretation of the history of thought according to which controversies often involves these two positions. In moral philosophy and moral psychology, however, the big figures are Hume and Kant. Is morality based on passions (Hume) or reasons (Kant)? This is another simplification, but again it frames the debate. In the last issue of Trends in Cognitive Science(TICS), three papers discusses the reason/emotions debate but provides more acute models.

Recently (see this previous post), Koenig and other collaborators (2007b) explored the consequences of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) lesions in moral reasoning and showed that they tend to rely a little more on a 'utilitarian' scheme (cost/benefit), and less on a deontological scheme (moral do's and don'ts ), thus suggesting that emotions are involved in moral deontological judgement. These patients, however, were also more emotional in the Ultimatum game, and rejected more offers than normal subjects. So are they emotional or not? In the first TICS paper, Moll and de Oliveira-Souza review the Koenig et al. (2007a) experiment and argue that neither somatic markers nor dual-process theory explains these findings. They propose that a selective impairment of prosocial sentiments explains why the same patient are both less emotional in moral dilemma but more emotional in economic bargaining. These patients can feel less compassion but still feel anger. In a second paper, Greene (author of the research on the trolley problems, see his homepage) challenge this interpretation and put forward his dual-process view (reason-emotion interaction). Moll and de Oliveira-Souza reply in the third paper. As you can see, there is still a debate between Kant and Hume, but cognitive neuroscience provides new tools for both sides of the debates, and maybe even a blurring of these opposites.


References

• Moll, J., & de Oliveira-Souza, R. (2007). Moral judgments, emotions and the utilitarian brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(8), 319-321.
• Greene, J. D. (2007). Why are VMPFC patients more utilitarian? A dual-process theory of moral judgment explains. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(8), 322-323.
• Moll, J., & de Oliveira-Souza, R. (2007). Response to Greene: Moral sentiments and reason: friends or foes? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(8), 323-324.
• Koenigs, M., & Tranel, D. (2007a). Irrational Economic Decision-Making after Ventromedial Prefrontal Damage: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game. Journal of Neuroscience, 27(4), 951-956.
• Koenigs, M., Young, L., Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Cushman, F., Hauser, M., et al. (2007b). Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements. Nature, 446(7138), 908-911.