Posterior cingulate activation during moral dilemma in adolescents

Abstract

Neuroimaging research examining correlates of adolescent behavioral maturation has focused largely on issues related to higher cognitive development. Currently few studies have explored neural correlates of emotional reactivity in adolescent groups. In this study, we sought to examine the nature of posterior cingulate activation during situations of moral dilemma in normal adolescents. We focused on this region because of emerging evidence that suggests its role in emotionally self-relevant mental processing. Ten healthy teenagers, aged from 14 to 16 years, underwent three fMRI sequences designed to examine (i) brain responses during moral dilemma; (ii) brain responses during passive viewing of the moral dilemma outcome; and (iii); "deactivation" during a simple cognitive task compared with resting-state activity. Our main finding was that during moral dilemma, all subjects showed significant activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, and more variable activation of the medial frontal cortex and angular gyrus. Interestingly, these findings were replicated in each subject using the passive viewing task, suggesting that the previous pattern was not specific to moral reasoning or decision making. Finally, six of the ten subjects showed deactivation of the same posterior cingulate region during the cognitive task, indicating some commonality of function between posterior cingulate activity during moral dilemmas and rest. We propose that these posterior cingulate changes may relate to basic neuronal activities associated with processing self-relevant emotional stimuli. Given the high single-subject reproducibility of posterior cingulate activations, our findings may contribute to further characterize adolescent emotional reactivity in developmental neuroimaging studies.

Decision-Making in Adolescents According to Reaction Time, HEG and PASS

“…It is reasonable to identify this shared network with the fear-danger processing that is the base of self-confidence. Consistent with other studies, a own fMRI study identified the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and the medial ventral prefrontal cortex, subserving emotional processing [28]. Recently, we have contributed to identify the two networks, external cognitive and internal emotional, using hemoencephalography (HEG) [16,45].…”

“…They are studies based on brain lesions [17][18][19], electrophysiological findings, particularly, Event-Related Potential (ERP) [20][21][22], but predominantly Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) [23], Functional Magnetic Resonance Image (fMRI) [24][25][26][27][28][29], and Connectivity Functional Magnetic Resonance Image (cfMRI).…”

Consistency and functional specialization in the default mode brain network

“…Moral dilemma was chosen as the specific context to study ''activation'' of default mode network regions based on our own and others recent findings (25,27,28). Briefly, subjects (n ϭ 22) responded to 24 moral dilemma and 24 memory control (non-moral dilemma) task vignettes that were presented audio-visually in a block-design fMRI experiment [see full details in supporting information (SI) Materials and Methods and SI Appendix].…”

“…Notably, this activation was greatest in the context of personal versus impersonal moral dilemmas, relative to nondilemma conditions, and particularly when personal moral judgments were most difficult to make. We added to these findings by showing that equivalent activation of default mode network regions could be obtained during moral dilemma as well as a passive task condition where subjects received feedback about prior moral judgments (25). It was suggested that self-reference and emotion were relevant factors in sustaining/evoking activity of default mode network regions (see also ref.…”

“…From existing studies, the default mode network has been associated indirectly with the pattern of evoked activity that is observed with tasks involving self-judgments, autobiographical memory recall, moral dilemma, and prospective thinking, among others (5,20,(23)(24)(25). In general terms, a common feature of these tasks is that they enhance subjects' attention toward themselves-a presumed behavioral correlate of resting-state imaging conditions and the spontaneous thought processes, or ''mind-wandering,'' that accompany it (26).…”