Kim, J., & Kim, H. (2025).
Journal of Neuroscience, e1114242025.
Abstract
Aligning one’s decisions with the prevailing norms and expectations of those around us constitutes a fundamental facet of moral decision-making. When faced with conflicting moral values, one adaptive approach is to rely on intuitive moral preference. While there has been theoretical speculation about the connection between moral preference and an individual’s awareness of introspective interoceptive signals, it has not been empirically examined. This study examines the relationships between individuals’ preferences in moral dilemmas and interoception, measured with self-report, heartbeat detection task, and resting-state fMRI. Two independent experiments demonstrate that both male and female participants’ interoceptive awareness and accuracy are associated with their moral preferences aligned with group consensus. In addition, the fractional occupancies of the brain states involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus during rest mediate the link between interoceptive awareness and the degree of moral preferences aligned to group consensus. These findings provide empirical evidence of the neural mechanism underlying the link between interoception and moral preferences aligned with group consensus.
Significance statement
We investigate the intricate link between interoceptive ability to perceive internal bodily signals and decision-making when faced with moral dilemmas. Our findings reveal a significant correlation between the accuracy and awareness of interoceptive signals and the degree of moral preferences aligned with group consensus. Additionally, brain states involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and precuneus during rest mediate the link between interoceptive awareness and moral preferences aligned with group consensus. These findings provide empirical evidence that internal bodily signals play a critical role in shaping our moral intuitions according to others’ expectations across various social contexts.
Here are some thoughts:
A recent study highlighted that our moral decisions may be influenced by our body's internal signals, particularly our heartbeat. Researchers found that individuals who could accurately perceive their own heartbeats tended to make moral choices aligning with the majority, regardless of whether those choices were utilitarian or deontological. This implies that bodily awareness might unconsciously guide us toward socially accepted norms. Brain scans supported this, showing increased activity in areas associated with evaluation and judgment, like the medial prefrontal cortex, in those more attuned to their internal signals. While the study's participants were exclusively Korean college students, limiting generalizability, the findings open up intriguing possibilities about the interplay between bodily awareness and moral decision-making.
