title: An event-related potential study of adolescents' and young adults' judgments of moral and social conventional violations.
abstract: The neurocognitive development of moral and conventional judgments was examined. Event-related potentials were recorded while 24 adolescents (13 years) and 30 young adults (20 years) read scenarios with 1 of 3 endings: moral violations, conventional violations, or neutral acts. Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable when a rule was assumed or removed. Across age, reaction times were faster for moral than conventional violations when a rule was assumed. Adolescents had larger N2 amplitudes than adults for moral and neutral, but not conventional, acts. N2 amplitudes were larger when a rule was removed than assumed for moral, but not conventional, violations. These findings suggest that the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying moral and conventional judgments continue to develop beyond early adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. lahata@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Ayelet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lahat
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Helwig
authors.forename: Philip David
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Zelazo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D012919:Social Behavior; D012945:Social Values; D055815:Young Adult