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Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume.

ABSTRACT: Moral sentiment has been hypothesized to reflect evolved adaptations to social living. If so, individual differences in moral values may relate to regional variation in brain structure. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 70 young, healthy adults examining whether differences on two major dimensions of moral values were significantly associated with regional gray matter volume. The two clusters of moral values assessed were "individualizing" (values of harm/care and fairness) and "binding" (deference to authority, in-group loyalty, and purity/sanctity). Individualizing was positively associated with left dorsomedial pFC volume and negatively associated with bilateral precuneus volume. For binding, a significant positive association was found for bilateral subcallosal gyrus and a trend to significance for the left anterior insula volume. These findings demonstrate that variation in moral sentiment reflects individual differences in brain structure and suggest a biological basis for moral sentiment, distributed across multiple brain regions.

SUBMITTER: Lewis GJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3383838 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume.

Lewis Gary J GJ Kanai Ryota R Bates Timothy C TC Rees Geraint G

Journal of cognitive neuroscience 20120509 8

Moral sentiment has been hypothesized to reflect evolved adaptations to social living. If so, individual differences in moral values may relate to regional variation in brain structure. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 70 young, healthy adults examining whether differences on two major dimensions of moral values were significantly associated with regional gray matter volume. The two clusters of moral values assessed were "individualizing" (values of harm/care and fairness) and "binding" ...[more]

PMID: 22571458

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Project description:BackgroundNeuroanatomical differences between individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were inconsistent in the literature. Such heterogeneity may substantially originate from age-differential effects.MethodsVoxel-based morphometry was applied in 86 males with ASD and 90 typically developing control (TDC) males (aged 7 to 29 years). Three steps of statistical modeling (model 1, multiple regression with age as a covariate; model 2, multiple regression further considering diagnosis-by-age interaction; model 3, age-stratified analyses) were performed to dissect the moderating effects of age on diagnostic group differences in neuroanatomy.ResultsAcross ages, males with and without ASD did not differ significantly in total gray matter (GM) or white matter (WM) volumes. For both groups, total GM volumes decreased and WM volumes increased with age. For regional volume, comparing with the model only held the age constant (model 1), the main effect of group altered when diagnosis-by-age interaction effects were considered (model 2). Here, participants with ASD had significantly greater relative regional GM volumes than TDC in the right inferior orbitofrontal cortex and bilateral thalamus; for WM, participants with ASD were larger than TDC in the bilateral splenium of corpus callosum and right anterior corona radiata. Importantly, significant diagnosis-by-age interactions were identified at the bilateral anterior prefrontal cortex, bilateral cuneus, bilateral caudate, and the left cerebellum Crus I for GM and left forceps minor for WM. Finally, age-stratified analyses (model 3) showed distinct patterns in GM and WM volumetric alterations in ASD among subsamples of children, adolescents, and adults.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the heterogeneous reports on the atypical neuroanatomy of ASD may substantially originate from age variation in the study samples. Age variation and its methodological and biological implications have to be carefully delineated in future studies of the neurobiology of ASD.

Project description:To investigate longitudinal changes in global and regional brain volume in patients 1 year after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and to correlate such changes with clinical and neurocognitive metrics.This institutional review board-approved study was HIPAA compliant. Twenty-eight patients with MTBI (with 19 followed up at 1 year) with posttraumatic symptoms after injury and 22 matched control subjects (with 12 followed up at 1 year) were enrolled. Automated segmentation of brain regions to compute regional gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes was performed by using three-dimensional T1-weighted 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging, and results were correlated with clinical metrics. Pearson and Spearman rank correlation coefficients were computed between longitudinal brain volume and neurocognitive scores, as well as clinical metrics, over the course of the follow-up period.One year after MTBI, there was measurable global brain atrophy, larger than that in control subjects. The anterior cingulate WM bilaterally and the left cingulate gyrus isthmus WM, as well as the right precuneal GM, showed significant decreases in regional volume in patients with MTBI over the 1st year after injury (corrected P < .05); this was confirmed by means of cross-sectional comparison with data in control subjects (corrected P < .05). Left and right rostral anterior cingulum WM volume loss correlated with changes in neurocognitive measures of memory (r = 0.65, P = .005) and attention (r = 0.60, P = .01). At 1-year follow-up, WM volume in the left cingulate gyrus isthmus correlated with clinical scores of anxiety (Spearman rank correlation r = -0.68, P = .007) and postconcussive symptoms (Spearman rank correlation r = -0.65, P = .01).These observations demonstrate structural changes to the brain 1 year after injury after a single concussive episode. Regional brain atrophy is not exclusive to moderate and severe traumatic brain injury but may be seen after mild injury. In particular, the anterior part of the cingulum and the cingulate gyrus isthmus, as well as the precuneal GM, may be distinctively vulnerable 1 year after MTBI.

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Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume.

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Moral values are associated with individual differences in regional brain volume.

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