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Meta-analysis of the moral brain: patterns of neural engagement assessed using multilevel kernel density analysis

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Abstract

The neuroimaging literature in moral cognition has rapidly developed in the last decade with more than 200 publications on the topic. Neuroimaging based models generally agree that limbic regions work with medial prefrontal and temporal regions during moral processing to integrate emotional, social, and cognitive elements into decision-making. However, no quantitative work has been done examining neural response across types of moral cognition tasks. This paper uses Multilevel Kernel Density Analysis (MKDA) to conduct neuroimaging meta-analyses of the moral cognitive literature. MKDA replicated previous findings of the neural correlates of moral cognition: the left amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporoparietal junction, and posterior cingulate. Random forest algorithms classified neural features as belonging to simple/utilitarian moral dilemmas, explicit/implicit moral tasks, and word/picture moral stimuli tasks; in combination with univariate contrast analyses, these results indicated a distinct pattern of processing for each of the members of these paradigm pairs. Overall, the results emphasize that the task selected for use in a moral cognition neuroimaging study is vital for the elicitation and interpretation of results. It also replicates and re-establishes the neural basis for moral processing, especially important in light of implementation errors in previous meta-analysis.

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Notes

  1. Moral emotions typically include shame and guilt, and positive emotions like gratitude. Although theory and literature support emotional processes as constituting an element of moral processing, the coordination between those and cognitive/social systems are an essential part of moral cognition that is not captured by tasks of component parts only (e.g., facial emotion processing, working memory, economic decision making). We have chosen to treat moral emotions in the absence of specific moral cognitive tasks as a separate (albeit related) construct, much like theory of mind and empathy processes. In previous meta-analysis, those (TOM and empathy) corresponded to engagement that was both distinct and overlapping with regions of the brain found associated with moral cognition (Bzdok et al. 2012), suggesting the need to treat such constructs separately.

  2. All foci are converted to MNI within the analysis.

  3. It is important to note that many of the reviews comparing ALE and MDKA and finding significant differences therein discuss the pre-2009 ALE (i.e., Kober and Wager 2010); the revisions to the algorithms by Eickhoff largely address the concerns of these reviews and as a result, both techniques are considered similarly useful in conducting imaging meta-analyses (Nichols, Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis Educational Session, OHBM 2015).

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Acknowledgements

Drs. Carla Harenski, Jim Cavanaugh, Vince Clark, and Vince Calhoun provided feedback on the direction of this project and the early version of this manuscript. Portions of these results were presented at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting.

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The authors of this manuscript are partially supported by NIH research funding, although the work done here was not directly grant supported.

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  1. Psychology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Samantha J. Fede & Kent A. Kiehl

  2. Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Institute (LBERI), 1101 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA

    Samantha J. Fede & Kent A. Kiehl

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Fede, S.J., Kiehl, K.A. Meta-analysis of the moral brain: patterns of neural engagement assessed using multilevel kernel density analysis. Brain Imaging and Behavior 14, 534–547 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-019-00035-5

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