fMRI study links brain region to moral inconsistency

Researchers using fMRI have identified a brain region associated with why people sometimes fail to apply their own moral standards to their own behavior, according to a study published March 19 in Cell Reports.

A team led by senior author Hongwen Song, PhD, of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) showed less activity and reduced connectivity to other decision-making brain regions in participants who judged dishonest behavior harshly in others but rated their own similar behavior more leniently. In participants deemed "morally consistent," vmPFC activation was similar during both behavioral and judgment tasks.

To test whether the vmPFC plays a causal role, the investigators stimulated participants' vmPFCs using transcranial temporal interference stimulation, a noninvasive method, prior to the tasks. Stimulated participants showed higher levels of moral inconsistency compared with those who received mock stimulation, they said.

"Our findings suggest that we should treat moral consistency like a skill that can be strengthened through deliberate decision-making," Song said in a statement released by the journal. "These findings have huge implications for education and AI."

Access the full study here.