1-172 - The developmental neuroscience of morality

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In the past decade an explosion of academic research in developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience has resulted in a growing body of knowledge devoted to defining and investigating moral cognition. However, developmental and neuroscience perspectives are rarely combined. The purpose of the present symposium is to bring together scholars who investigate the mechanisms underlying social evaluations, moral judgment and prosocial behavior at different levels of analysis including developmental, cognitive, and social neuroscience. The symposium will lead to productive interchange among developmental and neuroscience approaches. It will provide new knowledge on how moral evaluations and moral judgment develop in infants and young children, and what neural mechanisms underpin these abilities. Fascinating issues will be addressed, such as what is the relationship between moral cognition, sensitivity to fairness and prosocial behavior? What is the role of empathy in moral development? Does resting state frontal cortical asymmetry relate to prosocial behavior and empathic development? How do electrophysiological modulations of early and late temporal responses to morally-laden situations predict actual moral behavior? What differential cortical activations are associated with honest and dishonest behavior in older children and pre-adolescents? Moreover, how can development and neuroscience be combined to help us illuminate theories of morality? How can these two disciplines learn from each other?

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chairs

• Jean Decety, University of Chicago

• Jessica A Sommerville, University of Washington

Individual Presentations

• Longitudinal relations between frontal cortical activation asymmetries and the early development of prosocial behavior - Presenting Author: Markus Paulus, Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München; Jorg Meinhardt, Ludwig-Maximilians University; Maria Licata, Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München; Barbara Müller, Radboud University Nijmegen; Beate Sodian, Universtat Muenchen

• Developmental changes in infants’ fairness expectations over the first year of life - Presenting Author: Jessica A Sommerville, University of Washington

• The neuroscience of moral evaluations in infants and children - Presenting Author: Jason M Cowell, University of Chicago; Jean Decety, University of Chicago

• Neurodevelopment of honesty and dishonesty: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study - Presenting Author: Xiao Pan Ding, Zhejiang Normal University; John E Richards, University of South Carolina; Wanze Xie, University of South Carolina; Genyue Fu, Zhejiang Normal University; Kang Lee, University of Toronto