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Vicario CM, Maugeri N, Lucifora C, Prato A, Mucciardi M, Martino D, Rizzo R. Evidence for a dissociation between moral reasoning and moral decision-making in Tourette syndrome. J Neuropsychol 2024; 18:217-225. [PMID: 37789746 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
Despite the growing interest on how Tourette syndrome (TS) affects social cognition skills, this field remains to date relatively under-explored. Here, we aim to advance knowledge on the topic by studying moral decision-making and moral reasoning in a group of adolescents with TS and a group of healthy controls. Overall, we found higher endorsement (i.e. a greater 'yes' response rate) for utilitarian solutions of incidental and instrumental moral dilemmas in TS compared to controls. By contrast, we reported an overall higher tendency of TS individuals to apply principles described in the moral foundation questionnaire to establish whether something is morally right or wrong. Our results document intact moral reasoning in TS and suggest that a deficit in suppressing inappropriate behaviours and/or altered sense of agency might be responsible for their higher utilitarian moral decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo Mario Vicario
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Nicoletta Maugeri
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | | | - Adriana Prato
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
| | - Massimo Mucciardi
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Davide Martino
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Renata Rizzo
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
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Vicario CM, Scavone V, Lucifora C, Falzone A, Pioggia G, Gangemi S, Craparo G, Martino G. Evidence of abnormal scalar timing property in alexithymia. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0278881. [PMID: 36689490 PMCID: PMC9870170 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence suggests that incidental modulation of affective states affects the ability to keep track of time. Alexithymia represents an ideal condition to further address the emotion-time processing link, as it refers to a trait characterized by a deficit of affective processing. 31 healthy participants completed an online version of the TAS-20 scale, which measures alexithymia, and a time reproduction task of visual stimuli related to positive (i.e., happiness) and negative (i.e., anger) facial expressions. Results documented a positive correlation between TAS-20 score and the variability in reproducing sub-second durations of the anger expression stimuli We also found an overestimation of sub-second durations of non-affective expressions in borderline/alexithymic participants. Finally, in line with the literature, we confirmed the overall tendency to overestimate the duration of anger expression stimuli. These findings, which can be interpreted in terms of abnormal scalar timing property in alexithymia, expand previous investigations linking this personality trait with abnormal processing of negative emotions. The evidence that alexithymia predicts the reproduction variability of sub-second durations of negative affective stimuli corroborates previous neuroimaging studies documenting cerebellar deficits in these individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo Mario Vicario
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Vito Scavone
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Alessandra Falzone
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Giovanni Pioggia
- Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Messina, Italy
| | - Sebastiano Gangemi
- Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Craparo
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, Enna, Italy
| | - Gabriella Martino
- Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università di Messina, Messina, Italy
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Culicetto L, Ferraioli F, Lucifora C, Falzone A, Martino G, Craparo G, Avenanti A, Vicario CM. Disgust as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness: A narrative review of clinical populations. Bull Menninger Clin 2023; 87:53-91. [PMID: 37871195 DOI: 10.1521/bumc.2023.87.suppa.53] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Disgust is a basic emotion of rejection, providing an ancestral defensive mechanism against illness. Based on research that documents altered experiences of disgust across several psychopathological conditions, we conducted a narrative review to address the hypothesis that altered disgust may serve as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness. Our synthesis of the literature from past decades suggests that, compared to healthy populations, patients with mental disorders exhibit abnormal processing of disgust in at least one of the analyzed dimensions. We also outline evidence of alterations in brain areas relevant to disgust processing, such as the insula and the interconnected limbic network. Overall, we provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that altered disgust processing may serve as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Culicetto
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Chiara Lucifora
- Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology, ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Gabriella Martino
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Craparo
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, UKE-Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, Enna, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile, and the Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari," Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, Italy
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Romero-Rebollar C, García-Gómez L, Báez-Yáñez MG, Gutiérrez-Aguilar R, Pacheco-López G. Adiposity affects emotional information processing. Front Psychol 2022; 13:879065. [PMID: 36225672 PMCID: PMC9549075 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.879065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Obesity is a worldwide epidemic associated with severe health and psychological wellbeing impairments expressed by an increased prevalence of affective disorders. Emotional dysfunction is important due to its effect on social performance. The aim of the present narrative review is to provide a general overview of human research exploring emotional information processing in overweight and obese people. Evidence suggests that obesity is associated with an attenuation of emotional experience, contradictory findings about emotion recognition, and scarce research about automatic emotional information processing. Finally, we made some concluding considerations for future research on emotional information processing in overweight and obese people.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Leonor García-Gómez
- School of Psychology, Intercontinental University (UIC), Mexico City, Mexico
- Department of Research on Smoking and COPD, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) Ismael Cosío Villegas, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Mario G. Báez-Yáñez
- Radiology Department, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Ruth Gutiérrez-Aguilar
- Division of Research, School of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
- Laboratory of Metabolic Diseases: Obesity and Diabetes, Hospital Infantil de México “Federico Gómez”, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Gustavo Pacheco-López
- Health Sciences Department, Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), Lerma, Mexico
- *Correspondence: Gustavo Pacheco-López,
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Vicario CM, Lucifora C. Neuroethics: what the study of brain disorders can tell about moral behavior. AIMS Neurosci 2021; 8:543-547. [PMID: 34877404 PMCID: PMC8611188 DOI: 10.3934/neuroscience.2021029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The growing interest in the study of morality has led to the birth of a new discipline in the field of moral philosophy called Neuroethics, a multidisciplinary approach that aims to combine philosophy and neuroscience. In this editorial, we explored the relevance of clinical models affected by neurological/psychiatric disorders to learn more about mechanisms sub-serving ethical behaviour at neural and cognitive level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo M Vicario
- Dipartimento di Scienze Cognitive, Psicologiche, Pedagogiche e degli studi culturali Università di Messina, via concezione, Messina, Italy
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Kot E, Grzegorzewski P, Kostecka B, Kucharska K. Self-disgust and disgust sensitivity are increased in anorexia nervosa inpatients, but only self-disgust mediates between comorbid and core psychopathology. EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW 2021; 29:879-892. [PMID: 34655142 DOI: 10.1002/erv.2862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The possible role of abnormal disgust processing in the development and course of anorexia nervosa (AN) has been emphasized in theoretical models and research. However, disgust toward external stimuli and self-disgust have not yet been investigated together in a clinical sample of AN patients. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to measure these constructs and examine their role in shaping eating pathology in AN patients and healthy controls (HCs), considering comorbid depressive and anxiety psychopathology. The study also aimed at testing the possible mediational roles of both disgust types in the associations between comorbid psychopathology and eating disorders (EDs) characteristics. METHOD Altogether, 63 inpatients with AN and 57 HCs partook in the study. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-3, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Disgust Scale-Revised and Self-Disgust Scale. RESULTS AN patients manifested higher self-disgust and disgust sensitivity than HCs. In addition, self-disgust predicted the severity of EDs characteristics and mediated the links of depressive symptoms and trait anxiety with EDs characteristics in both groups. DISCUSSION Our findings imply the putative role of self-disgust in the development of EDs psychopathology in HCs and in its maintenance in AN patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Kot
- Department of Neuroses, Personality Disorders, and Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Piotr Grzegorzewski
- Department of Neuroses, Personality Disorders, and Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Barbara Kostecka
- II Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Kucharska
- Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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Lucifora C, Martino G, Curcuruto A, Salehinejad MA, Vicario CM. How Self-Control Predicts Moral Decision Making: An Exploratory Study on Healthy Participants. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18073840. [PMID: 33917567 PMCID: PMC8038791 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18073840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Research on moral reasoning calls into question self-control, which encompasses impulsivity, compulsivity, and inhibitory control. However, a thorough investigation exploring how these three dimensions can affect moral reasoning in response to different scenarios is unavailable. We addressed this topic by testing the predictive role of these three dimensions of self-control on appraisals for ethical violations related with different types of scenarios. Overall, our results suggest that all three dimensions of self-control are involved in moral reasoning, depending on the type of appraisal and provided moral scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Lucifora
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy; (C.L.); (A.C.)
| | - Gabriella Martino
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy;
| | - Anna Curcuruto
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy; (C.L.); (A.C.)
| | - Mohammad Ali Salehinejad
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, 44139 Dortmund, Germany;
| | - Carmelo Mario Vicario
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, 98122 Messina, Italy; (C.L.); (A.C.)
- Correspondence:
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Brown H, Proulx MJ, Stanton Fraser D. Hunger Bias or Gut Instinct? Responses to Judgments of Harm Depending on Visceral State Versus Intuitive Decision-Making. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2261. [PMID: 33041900 PMCID: PMC7530233 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Empirical investigation into the emotional and physiological processes that shape moral decision-making is vast and growing. Yet, relatively less attention has been paid to measures of interoception in morality research despite its centrality in both emotional and physiological processes. Hunger and thirst represent two everyday interoceptive states, and hunger, in particular, has been shown to be influential for moral decision-making in numerous studies. It is possible that a tendency to focus on internal sensations interoceptive sensibility (IS), as well as the emotional and physiological states associated with visceral states, could be important in the relationships between hunger, thirst, and moral judgments. This cross-sectional online research (n = 154) explored whether IS, hunger, thirst, and emotional state influenced appropriateness and acceptability judgments of harm. The moral dilemma stimuli used allowed the independent calculation of (1) people's tendency to avoid harmful action at all costs and (2) people's tendency to maximize outcomes that benefit the greater good. The Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT) was implemented to determine whether an ability to override intuitive responses to counterintuitive problems predicted harm-based moral judgments, as found previously. Hunger bias, independent of IS and emotional state, was influential for non-profitable acceptability judgments of harmful actions. Contrary to dual-process perspectives, a novel finding was that more intuitive responses on the CRT predicted a reduced aversion to harmful actions that was indirectly associated with IS. We suggest that IS may indicate people's vulnerability to cognitive miserliness on the CRT task and reduced deliberation of moral dilemma stimuli. The framing of moral dilemmatic questions to encourage allocentric (acceptability questions) versus egocentric perspectives (appropriateness questions) could explain the divergence between hunger bias and intuitive decision-making for predicting these judgments, respectively. The findings are discussed in relation to dual-process accounts of harm-based moral judgments and evidence linking visceral experiences to harm aversion and moral decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Brown
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | | | - Danaë Stanton Fraser
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- CREATE Lab, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
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Vicario CM, Rafal RD, di Pellegrino G, Lucifora C, Salehinejad MA, Nitsche MA, Avenanti A. Indignation for moral violations suppresses the tongue motor cortex: preliminary TMS evidence. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 17:151-159. [PMID: 32347307 PMCID: PMC8824570 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 02/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
We commonly label moral violations in terms of ‘disgust’, yet it remains unclear whether metaphorical expressions linking disgust and morality are genuinely shared at the cognitive/neural level. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we provide new insights into this debate by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from the tongue generated by TMS over the tongue primary motor area (tM1) in a small group of healthy participants presented with vignettes of moral transgressions and non-moral vignettes. We tested whether moral indignation, felt while evaluating moral vignettes, affected tM1 excitability. Vignettes exerted a variable influence on MEPs with no net effect of the moral category. However, in accordance with our recent study documenting reduced tM1 excitability during exposure to pictures of disgusting foods or facial expressions of distaste, we found that the vignettes of highly disapproved moral violations reduced tM1 excitability. Moreover, tM1 excitability and moral indignation were linearly correlated: the higher the moral indignation, the lower the tM1 excitability. Respective changes in MEPs were not observed in a non-oral control muscle, suggesting a selective decrease of tM1 excitability. These preliminary findings provide neurophysiological evidence supporting the hypothesis that morality might have originated from the more primitive experience of oral distaste.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo M Vicario
- Department of Cognitive, Psychological, and Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina 98121, Italy.,Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, United Kingdom.,Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany.,School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia.,Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, 346000 Talca, Chile
| | - Robert D Rafal
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Delaware 19716, USA
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Department of Psychology and Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Chiara Lucifora
- Department of Cognitive, Psychological, and Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina 98121, Italy.,Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, United Kingdom
| | - Mohammad A Salehinejad
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany
| | - Michael A Nitsche
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, 346000 Talca, Chile.,Department of Psychology and Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, 47521 Cesena, Italy
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Kerry N, Loria RN, Murray DR. Gluttons for Punishment? Experimentally Induced Hunger Unexpectedly Reduces Harshness of Suggested Punishments. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00121-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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Liu X, Li J, Turel O, Chen R, He Q. Food-Specific Inhibitory Control Mediates the Effect of Disgust Sensitivity on Body Mass Index. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2391. [PMID: 31695662 PMCID: PMC6817461 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Disgust is an emotion that drives food avoidance. People vary in their responses to disgust, which is captured by their disgust sensitivity. Disgust sensitivity is clinically significant because it can influence eating behaviors, and indirectly people's body mass index (BMI). Inhibitory control can also influence BMI through the role that such reflective abilities play in governing food intake. In this study, we relied on neural models of disgust to suggest that disgust and inhibitory control are intertwined, and that inhibitory control facilitates the translation of disgust sensitivity into BMI. Mediation analyses applied to 46 subjects, including 29 normal body weight [BMI = 18.34 kg/m2 (SD = 1.58)] and 17 overweight/obese [BMI = 26.03 kg/m2 (SD = 2.58)] subjects, were used to test the hypothesis. Subjects completed the Chinese version of the Disgust Scale-Revised, and an inhibition control test (Food-Specific Stop-Signal Task). There were negative correlations between the disgust sensitivity score (DS) and body mass index (BMI), and between DS and stop-signal reaction time (SSRT). Moreover, BMI was positively correlated with SSRT. The mediation model results showed that disgust sensitivity was associated with BMI and that this relationship was mediated via inhibition control. There was no significant effect of DS on BMI, while the effect of SSRT on BMI was significant. This suggested that the effect of disgust sensitivity on BMI was fully mediated through food-specific inhibitory control. This supports our hypothesis that BMI is affected by disgust sensitivity and that this relationship is mediated by inhibition control. These findings reveal a key mechanism that underlies disgust sensitivity-BMI association and point to future research and potential interventions aimed at food intake management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xing Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Ji Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Ofir Turel
- Information Systems and Decision Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA, United States
| | - Rui Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Qinghua He
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.,Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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Vicario CM, Kuran KA, Rogers R, Rafal RD. The effect of hunger and satiety in the judgment of ethical violations. Brain Cogn 2018; 125:32-36. [PMID: 29852339 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2018] [Revised: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Human history is studded with instances where instinctive motivations take precedence over ethical choices. Nevertheless, the evidence of any linking between motivational states and morality has never been systematically explored. Here we addressed this topic by testing a possible linking between appetite and moral judgment. We compared moral disapproval ratings (MDR) for stories of ethical violations in participants under fasting and after having eaten a snack. Our results show that subjective hunger, measured via self-reported rating, reduces MDR for ethical violations. Moreover, the higher the disgust sensitivity the higher the MDR for ethical violations. This study adds new insights to research on physiological processes influencing morality by showing that appetite affects moral disapproval of ethical violations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo M Vicario
- School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales LL57 2AS, UK; Department of Scienze Cognitive, Psycologiche, Pedagogiche e degli Studi Culturali, University of Messina, Messina, Italy; Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany.
| | - Karolina A Kuran
- School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales LL57 2AS, UK
| | - Robert Rogers
- School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales LL57 2AS, UK
| | - Robert D Rafal
- School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales LL57 2AS, UK
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Vicario CM, Sommer W, Kuran KA, Rafal RD. Salivary secretion and disgust: A pilot study. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2017; 178:18-24. [PMID: 28554155 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Revised: 05/12/2017] [Accepted: 05/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Although a direct link has been established between self-experienced disgust and salivary secretion, it is unclear whether this physiological index is modulated by the social experience of disgust (i.e., exposure to the facial expression of disgust). We tested this issue in a pilot study by collecting salivary samples in a group of 20 healthy humans watching pictures of faces expressing disgust. Moreover, we tried to replicate previous evidence by testing saliva secretion in response to pictures of unpalatable (i.e., rotten) food and non-gustatory disgusting stimuli (i.e., disgusting insects). Overall, our analysis shows a general reduction of saliva secretion in response to disgust stimuli, compared to their positive counterparts, although further analyses for specific stimulus categories indicated that this difference was statistically significant only for food pictures. The non-significance of the face and insect categories might be due to insufficient power of our small sample. Overall, a general reduction of saliva secretion for different disgust-related stimuli suggests a shared mechanism of encoding, in line with theories of neural reuse.
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Core, social and moral disgust are bounded: A review on behavioral and neural bases of repugnance in clinical disorders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 80:185-200. [PMID: 28506923 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Disgust is a multifaceted experience that might affect several aspects of life. Here, we reviewed research on neurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by abnormal disgust processing to test the hypothesis of a shared neurocognitive architecture in the representation of three disgust domains: i) personal experience of 'core disgust'; ii) social disgust, i.e., sensitivity to others' expressions of disgust; iii) moral disgust, i.e., sensitivity to ethical violations. Our review provides some support to the shared neurocognitive hypothesis and suggests that the insula might be the "hub" structure linking the three domains of disgust sensitivity, while other brain regions may subserve specific facets of the multidimensional experience. Our review also suggests a role of serotonin core and moral disgust, supporting "neo-sentimentalist" theories of morality, which posit a causal role of affect in moral judgment.
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