Moral Cognition

Moral cognition plays a crucial role in the proper functioning of society by enabling us to regulate behavior in a way that is sensitive not only to our own well-being but also to that of others. In our research, we are particularly interested in understanding how individuals integrate multiple sources of information when making moral judgments about social interactions.

Some of our findings...

Electric stimulation applied to the right TPJ changes how much we take into account mitigating circumstances

We asked adult participants to decide how much blame or punishment someone else deserved for hurting another person. During their judgments, participants' brain activity was modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the right temporo-parietal junction (right TPJ), a brain region known to be important for moral judgments. We found that the stimulation specifically affected how much people took into account that the harm was caused accidentally. The study shows that the right TPJ plays a causal role in our moral judgments by helping us process the mitigating circumstances that could reduce someone's moral responsibility. This findings has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2016).

• Leloup, Laëtitia, Dongo Miletich, Diana, Andriet, Gaëlle, Vandermeeren, Yves, & Samson, Dana (2016). Cathodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the right Temporo-Parietal Junction modulates the use of mitigating circumstances during moral judgements. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12(10), 355. doi :10.3389/fnhum.2016.00355

How information is presented affects moral judgments

• Leloup, Laetitia, Meert, Gaëlle, & Samson, Dana (2018). Moral judgments depend on information presentation: Evidence for recency and transfer effects. Psychologica Belgica, 58, 256. doi :10.5334/pb.421