Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Moral Psychology
• Social Neuroscience

Background:

• Moral sentiment is theorized as an evolved adaptation for social living.
• Individual differences in moral values may correlate with regional brain structure variations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between individual differences in moral values and regional gray matter volume.
• To explore the neural correlates of "individualizing" and "binding" moral value dimensions.

Main Methods:

• Neuroimaging study on 70 healthy young adults.
• Assessed moral values using "individualizing" (harm/care, fairness) and "binding" (authority, loyalty, purity) dimensions.
• Correlated moral value scores with regional gray matter volume using MRI.

Main Results:

• "Individualizing" moral values positively associated with left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (pFC) volume and negatively with bilateral precuneus volume.
• "Binding" moral values positively associated with bilateral subcallosal gyrus volume and showed a trend with left anterior insula volume.
• Demonstrated significant associations between moral value dimensions and specific brain structures.

Conclusions:

• Variation in moral sentiment is reflected in individual differences in brain structure.
• Suggests a distributed biological basis for moral sentiment across multiple brain regions.
• Highlights the neuroanatomical underpinnings of fundamental moral dimensions.