Document Detail


Right or wrong? The brain's fast response to morally objectionable statements.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19656340     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
How does the brain respond to statements that clash with a person's value system? We recorded event-related brain potentials while respondents from contrasting political-ethical backgrounds completed an attitude survey on drugs, medical ethics, social conduct, and other issues. Our results show that value-based disagreement is unlocked by language extremely rapidly, within 200 to 250 ms after the first word that indicates a clash with the reader's value system (e.g., "I think euthanasia is an acceptable/unacceptable..."). Furthermore, strong disagreement rapidly influences the ongoing analysis of meaning, which indicates that even very early processes in language comprehension are sensitive to a person's value system. Our results testify to rapid reciprocal links between neural systems for language and for valuation.
Authors:
Jos J A Van Berkum; Bregje Holleman; Mante Nieuwland; Marte Otten; Jaap Murre
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2009-07-28
Journal Detail:
Title:  Psychological science     Volume:  20     ISSN:  1467-9280     ISO Abbreviation:  Psychol Sci     Publication Date:  2009 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-09-02     Completed Date:  2009-11-30     Revised Date:  2011-05-20    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9007542     Medline TA:  Psychol Sci     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1092-9     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jos.vanberkum@mpi.nl
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Arousal / physiology*
Attitude*
Brain Mapping
Cerebral Cortex / physiology
Christianity
Conflict (Psychology)*
Electroencephalography*
Evoked Potentials / physiology*
Female
Humans
Judgment*
Male
Middle Aged
Morals*
Politics
Reading*
Religion and Psychology
Semantics
Social Values*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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