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Aesthetics and morality judgments share cortical neuroarchitecture

Heinzelmann, Nora C; Weber, Susanna C; Tobler, Philippe N (2020). Aesthetics and morality judgments share cortical neuroarchitecture. Cortex, 129:484-495.

Abstract

Philosophers have predominantly regarded morality and aesthetics judgments as fundamentally different. However, whether this claim is empirically founded has remained unclear. In a novel task, we measured brain activity of participants judging the aesthetic beauty of artwork or the moral goodness of actions depicted. To control for the content of judgments, participants assessed the age of the artworks and the speed of depicted actions. Univariate analyses revealed whole-brain corrected, content-controlled common activation for aesthetics and morality judgments in frontopolar, dorsomedial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Temporoparietal cortex showed activation specific for morality judgments, occipital cortex for aesthetics judgments. Multivariate analyses revealed both common and distinct whole-brain corrected representations for morality and aesthetics judgments in temporoparietal and prefrontal regions. Overall, neural commonalities are more pronounced than predominant philosophical views would predict. They are compatible with minority accounts that stress commonalities between aesthetics and morality judgments, such as sentimentalism and a valuation framework.

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:03 Faculty of Economics > Department of Economics
Dewey Decimal Classification:330 Economics
Scopus Subject Areas:Social Sciences & Humanities > Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Social Sciences & Humanities > Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Life Sciences > Cognitive Neuroscience
Uncontrolled Keywords:Experimental and cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology and physiological psychology, values, morality, aesthetics, decision-making, MVPA
Scope:Discipline-based scholarship (basic research)
Language:English
Date:August 2020
Deposited On:06 Nov 2020 13:30
Last Modified:24 Oct 2024 01:36
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0010-9452
OA Status:Hybrid
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.018
Other Identification Number:merlin-id:19940
Project Information:
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: PP00P1_128574
  • Project Title: The neural basis of economic and moral utility
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: 200020-100014
  • Project Title: Applications of nonliner spectroscopy to the study of ultrafast photoinduced processes
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: PP00P1-114788
  • Project Title: Psychosocial and neurobiological bases of social interaction: Basic mechanisms and clinical implications
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: 100014_165884
  • Project Title: The role of dopamine in value-based decision making
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: PP00P1_150739
  • Project Title: The neural basis of economic and moral utility
  • Funder: SNSF
  • Grant ID: PBBS1--104386
  • Project Title: Staatlichkeit in einem abhängigen Gebiet als Spannungsfeld zwischen Tribu und der globalisierten Welt

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