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MODULAR MORALS:
MAPPING THE
ORGANIZATION OF THE
MORAL BRAIN
JAMES WILKINSON, OLIVER SCOTT CURRY, BRITTANY
MITCHELL, TIMOTHY BATES AND NICK MARTIN

Moral Molecules Workshop II - 20th May 2021

 Introduction
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 According to the theory of ‘morality as

cooperation’ there are seven types of cooperation
and thus seven types of morality.
 It is unclear how these types of morality are
implemented at a neuroanatomical level.
 Introduction
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 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) produces

anatomical images that show grey matter, white
matter and cerebrospinal fluid.
 Regional grey matter volume (GMV) has been
found to correlate with individual differences in
psychological traits.
 Introduction
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 Hypotheses
 1. Seven types of morality relate to seven different
groups of brain regions.
 2. Seven types of morality relate to one group of brain
regions.
 3. Seven types of morality relate to multiple, disparate,
overlapping groups of brain regions.
 Introduction
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 Conducted two studies:

 1. Anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-
analysis
 2. Analysis of the relationship between the seven types
of morality and regional grey matter volume
 Study 1 - Methods
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 Literature search and selection

 Whole-brain analysis and healthy adults

 Relevant measures of morality
 Coordinates reported for relevant brain regions
 Domain Reference N Behavioural/self-report measures

Measuring impartiality through 3 rd party punishment of in-group and outgroup

Group Baumgartner 2013 56
cooperative and defective behaviour

Measuring the time for an untrustworthy face to emerge from suppression and become
Getov 2015 36
visible

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Trust self-report (NEO PI-3)
Haas 2015 82
Trustworthiness Evaluation of Faces
Reciprocity

Li 2017 199 Tendency to Forgive

P(C|C) in pay-it-forward reciprocity

Watanabe 2014 48
   
P(C|C) in reputation-based reciprocity

Getov 2015 36 Measuring the time for a dominant face to emerge from suppression and become visible
Heroism

Kumaran 2012 36 Capacity to perform transitive judgements of social rank

Lewis 2012 70 Moral foundation of authority

Deference Getov 2015 36 Measuring the time for a dominant face to emerge from suppression and become visible

Kumaran 2012 36 Capacity to perform transitive judgements of social rank

Division Morishima 2012 30 Preference for altruism in advantageous domain

Property Votinov 2010 21 Individual WTA/WTP Ratio

 9 studies with a total of 35 sets of coordinates

(foci) for 728 participants
 Study 1 - Methods
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 ALE Methodology
 The foci are interpreted as spatial probability
distributions.
 Produce an ALE map of the brain and compute the null
distribution of ALE values.
 Create a p-value map and significant results were then
assessed at a threshold of p<0.001.
 Study 1 – Results
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 Study 1 - Discussion
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 Small number of studies in the meta-analysis.

 Each had different methodologies and relatively
small samples.
 Different enough to not make a priori predictions
for Study 2.
 Study 2 – Methods
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 607 healthy participants (429 females; mean age at

MRI = 22.54; mean age at MAC-Q-R = 31.25; 237
MZ twins, 271 DZ twins, remainder siblings)
 3D brain images acquired and grey matter volume
was extracted for 34 cortical regions per
hemisphere and 20 subcortical regions.
 Moral relevance was assessed using the 21 item
Relevance subscale of the Morality-as-Cooperation
Questionnaire (MAC-Q-R)
 Study 2 - Methods
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 MAC-Q-R scores were regressed on each of these

88 brain regions.
 Gender, age, whole-brain grey matter volume and
genetic relatedness of participants were included as
covariates.
 Corrected for multiple testing error using Matrix
Spectral Decomposition and Bonferroni correction.
 Study 2 - Results
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 Behavioural Results

Moral Domain Mean Standard Deviation

Family 4.31 0.99

Group 4.00 0.94

Reciprocity 4.19 1.11

Heroism 3.77 1.01

Deference 3.55 1.03

Division 3.91 1.03

Property 4.61 1.00

 Study 2 - Results
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 Neuroanatomical Results
 Nominal positive and negative correlations found
between brain regions and all moral domains.
 None remained significant after multiple testing
correction.
 Discussion
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 Data does not support any of our initial hypotheses

 Hypotheses
 1. Seven types of morality relate to seven different
groups of brain regions.
 2. Seven types of morality relate to one group of brain
regions.
 3. Seven types of morality relate to multiple, disparate,
overlapping groups of brain regions.
 Discussion
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 Absence of prior predictions increased multiple

testing burden.
 Parsing our data differently could have led to
different results.
 Time lag in neuroanatomical and behavioural
measures.
 Discussion
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 Conclude that whatever combination of

mechanisms are responsible for morality, if they
are neuroanatomically localized then this is not
manifest in grey matter volume.
 Future research should employ a priori predictions
and alternative brain measures.