Name: fmri and the trolley dilemma in moral choice
Uploaded: 2023-04-30T06:52:22.000Z
Duration: 9 min 20 s
Channel: JoVE

1. Data Collection
<ol>
	<li>Conduct a power analysis and recruit a sufficient number of participants.</li>
	<li>Create 30 moral dilemmas divided equally into categories of (1) personal moral dilemmas, (2) impersonal moral dilemmas, and (3) non-moral dilemmas. See the supplementary materials from Greene et al. for specific examples.1
	<ol>
		<li>A personal moral dilemma involves the participant imagining to perform an action that directly harms one person in the service of some goal. Examples include the footbridge dilemma, harvesting the organs of a person to save several other people, and throwing someone off a lifeboat to save others on the boat.</li>
		<li>An impersonal moral dilemma involves the participant imagining to perform an action that indirectly harms one person in the service of some goal. Examples include the trolley dilemma, cheating on taxes, and stealing a boat in order to save people from a storm.</li>
		<li>A non-moral dilemma involves the participant imagining to perform an action that is not typically viewed in moral terms at all. Examples include deciding to buy a name-brand versus an off-brand medicine and whether to travel by plane or train given certain time constraints.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Present every participant with each of the 30 dilemmas while undergoing brain scanning using fMRI.
	<ol>
		<li>Verify that stimuli (dilemmas) are shown on a visual display projected into the scanner.</li>
		<li>Present each dilemma as text through a series of three screens, the first two describing a scenario and the last posing a question about the appropriateness of an action one might perform in that scenario (e.g., turning the trolley).</li>
		<li>Give participants 46 s maximum to get through all three screens.</li>
		<li>Note that the intertrial interval (ITI) lasts for a minimum of 14 s (seven images) in each trial.</li>
		<li>Define baseline activity as the mean signal across the last four images of the ITI.</li>
		<li>Measure task-related activity using a &#8220;floating window&#8221; of eight images surrounding (four before, one during, and three after) the point of response.
		<ol>
			<li>This window includes three post-response images in order to allow for the 4- to 6-s delay in hemodynamic response to neural activation.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Acquire functional images in 22 axial slices parallel to the AC-PC line (echoplanar pulse sequence; TR, 2000 ms; TE, 25 ms; flip angle, 90&#176;; FOV, 192 mm; 3.0-mm isotropic voxels; 1-mm interslice spacing) using a 3.0-T Siemens Allegra head-dedicated scanner.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Dependent measure: Measure participants&#8217; moral judgments by their rating of whether or not the action described in the dilemma was appropriate or inappropriate (binary choice).</li>
</ol>
2. Data Analysis
<ol>
	<li>Before statistical analysis, co-register images for all participants using a 12-parameter automatic algorithm and smooth with an 8-mm full width at half maximum 3D Gaussian filter.</li>
	<li>Analyze fMRI scans for each participant during each task.
	<ol>
		<li>For the images contained in each response window, use a voxel-wise mixed-effects ANOVA with participant as a random effect, and dilemma-type, block, and response-relative image as fixed effects.</li>
		<li>Threshold statistical maps of voxel-wise F-ratios for statistical significance (p = 0.0005) and cluster size (8 contiguous voxels).</li>
		<li>Threshold the planned comparisons for significant differences between conditions for statistical significance (p = 0.05 and cluster size (8 voxels).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Measure the percentage change, relative to the baseline, in brain activity for each of the crucial brain areas at play.</li>
</ol>

In the debate over the effects of reason versus emotion in moral judgment, this experiment provides evidence of powerful psychological processes involved: Moral judgments about personal dilemmas rely heavily on emotional processes, while moral judgments about impersonal dilemmas rely more heavily on reasoning processes. Indeed, judgments concerning impersonal dilemmas are more like judgments concerning non-moral dilemmas than personal dilemmas.&#160; Techniques involved in this experiment are basic, and the results deriv...

using fmri to dissect moral judgment

Using fMRI to Dissect Moral Judgment

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and philosophers alike point to the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma. With the trolley dilemma, most people say that it is appropriate to pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people by diverting it to kill one person. However, with the footbridge dilemma, most people say it is inappropriate to push a large man off of a bridge in order to hit a train (killing him) and stop it from running into five people. Reason would dictate that in both of the foregoing dilemmas, one life should be sacrificed to save five lives. But to many people, pushing the large man just &#8220;feels wrong&#8221; because it triggers more negative emotions than pulling a switch. In this case, emotion seems to trump reason. &#160;
In recent years, psychology and neuroscience have entered the debate over the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment. Researchers can scan brain activity as individuals make making moral judgments. Research shows that different brain areas associated are active during contemplation of the footbridge dilemma versus the trolley dilemma.
Inspired by Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley and Cohen, this video demonstrates how to design moral dilemma tasks and integrate them into experiments using using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology.1

The imaging data support the idea that emotion is more involved in personal moral dilemmas than impersonal dilemmas and non-moral dilemmas (Figure 1). Brain areas previously linked with emotion (e.g., the medial frontal gyrus) were significantly more active when participants made judgments about personal dilemmas (e.g., the footbridge dilemma) than when they made judgments about impersonal dilemmas (e.g., the trolley dilemma). For impersonal dilemmas, brain areas previously lin...

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and ...

Deciding whether something is right or wrong doesn?t just involve an emotional drive. Sometimes, moral judgments are based on reason.For instance, in the classic trolley dilemma, most individuals say that they would pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people by diverting it and killing one person.However, in another case?the footbridge dilemma?most individuals would not push a large man off of a bridge to hit a train that would kill him, even though that would stop the train from running into five other people.In both situations, reason would dictate that one life should be sacrificed to save five. Although to many, pushing the man feels wrong?it triggers more negative emotions than simply pulling a switch.This video demonstrates how to integrate moral dilemmas into an experiment?using functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI?to analyze the neural underpinnings associated with the use of reason and emotion based on previous work of Greene and colleagues.In this experiment, participants undergo a brain scan using fMRI while they are presented with 30 scenarios?involving personal, impersonal, and non-moral decisions?written in text format on a presentation screen.The f

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fmri and the trolley dilemma in moral choice

fMRI can be used to study how people make moral choices in the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma. These two classic thought experiments help researchers compare the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment.

In the trolley dilemma, most people say it is appropriate to pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people, even though the switch sends the train toward one person. In the footbridge dilemma, most people say it is inappropriate to push a large man off a bridge so his body will stop the train and save the five. Reason would suggest that one life can be sacrificed to save five lives in both cases.

Many people still feel that pushing the man is wrong because it triggers stronger negative emotions than pulling a switch. That emotional response can outweigh reason in moral judgment. Researchers can scan brain activity while people think through these choices.

Studies show that different brain areas are active when people consider the footbridge dilemma compared with the trolley dilemma. Based on work by Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley, and Cohen, this protocol shows how to design moral dilemma tasks and add them to experiments that use functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.

fMRI and the Trolley Dilemma in Moral Choice

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fMRI can be used to study how people make moral choices in the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma. These two classic thought experiments help researchers compare the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment. In the trolley dilemma, most people say it is appropriate to pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people, even though the switch sends the train toward one person. In the footbridge dilemma, most people say it is inappropriate to push a large man off a bridge so his...

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Explore how fMRI is used to study the trolley and footbridge dilemmas, comparing reason and emotion in moral judgment and brain activity.

fMRI and the Trolley Dilemma in Moral Choice

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