title: Neural correlates of post-conventional moral reasoning: a voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: Going back to Kohlberg, moral development research affirms that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as cognitive abilities mature. Individuals at a lower level of moral reasoning judge moral issues mainly based on self-interest (personal interests schema) or based on adherence to laws and rules (maintaining norms schema), whereas individuals at the post-conventional level judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals. However, the extent to which moral development is reflected in structural brain architecture remains unknown. To investigate this question, we used voxel-based morphometry and examined the brain structure in a sample of 67 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Subjects completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) which measures moral development in terms of cognitive schema preference. Results demonstrate that subjects at the post-conventional level of moral reasoning were characterized by increased gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, compared with subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning. Our findings support an important role for both cognitive and emotional processes in moral reasoning and provide first evidence for individual differences in brain structure according to the stages of moral reasoning first proposed by Kohlberg decades ago.
authors.affiliation: Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology & NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prehn
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America; Department of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korczykowski
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hengyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Center for Functional Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Detre
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Diana C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Robertson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D035863:Moral Development; D011859:Radiography