In the scope of the project The Aging Social Brain – Neural and behavioral age-related changes in social cognition and decision-making, João Marques-Teixeira et al. published in the journal Neuroscience Letters the paper “Awareness to utilitarian responses in later life: An ERP study with moral dilemmas” with the following highlights:
- This study investigated the age differences in moral decision-making;
- The assessed groups did not differ in the number of utilitarian responses and reaction time;
- At the neural level, older adults had higher Positivity Error (Pe) amplitudes than younger adults after utilitarian responses;
- The neural result suggests that utilitarian decisions may induce increased conflict in the older group.
Abstract
“The current study aims to provide the first insights into the neural correlates of utilitarian and deontological responses to moral dilemmas across the lifespan. To this purpose, younger (n = 30), middle-aged (n = 29), and older adults (n = 29) completed moral dilemmas during an EEG recording. Behaviorally, groups did not differ in the number of utilitarian responses and reaction times. However, at the neural level, older adults had higher Error Positivity (Pe) amplitudes than younger adults after utilitarian responses. As this effect was specific to utilitarian responses, it suggests that utilitarian decisions may induce increased conflict in the older group. These findings highlight that older adults may be more aware of the harmful outcomes of utilitarian decisions during moral decision-making.”
