Emotional descriptions increase accidental harm punishment and its cortico-limbic signatures during moral judgment in autism
Fittipaldi, S., Armony, J. L., García, A. M., Migeot, J., Cadaveira, M. Ibáñez, A. & Baez, S. (2023). Emotional descriptions increase accidental harm punishment and its cortico-limbic signatures during moral judgment in autism. Scientific Reports 13, 1745.
En este trabajo, utilizando un paradigma activo de fMRI, mostramos cómo las emociones inducidas por el lenguaje afectan el juicio moral basado en la intención en adultos con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Encontramos que el uso de un lenguaje gráfico, explícito, incrementa la asignación de castigo ante daños accidentales en el TEA, en conjunto con sobreactivación en regiones cerebrales asociadas al procesamiento emocional. En conclusión, en situaciones que carecen de pistas de intencionalidad (escenarios de daño accidental), las personas con TEA utilizarían erróneamente sus emociones para guiar sus decisiones morales.
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Emotional descriptions increase accidental harm punishment and its cortico-limbic signatures during moral judgment in autism
Fittipaldi, S., Armony, J. L., García, A. M., Migeot, J., Cadaveira, M. Ibáñez, A. & Baez, S. (2023). Emotional descriptions increase accidental harm punishment and its cortico-limbic signatures during moral judgment in autism. Scientific Reports 13, 1745.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present difficulties in integrating mental state information in complex moral tasks. Yet, ASD research has not examined whether this process is influenced by emotions, let alone while capturing its neural bases. We investigated how language-induced emotions modulate intent-based moral judgment in ASD. In a fMRI task, 30 adults with ASD and 27 neurotypical controls read vignettes whose protagonists commit harm either accidentally or intentionally, and then decided how much punishment the protagonist deserved. Emotional content was manipulated across scenarios through the use of graphic language (designed to trigger arousing negative responses) vs. plain (just-the-facts, emotionless) language. Off-line functional connectivity correlates of task performance were also analyzed. In ASD, emotional (graphic) descriptions amplified punishment ratings of accidental harms, associated with increased activity in fronto-temporo-limbic, precentral, and postcentral/supramarginal regions (critical for emotional and empathic processes), and reduced connectivity among the orbitofrontal cortex and the angular gyrus (involved in mentalizing). Language manipulation did not influence intentional harm processing in ASD. In conclusion, in arousing and ambiguous social situations that lack intentionality clues (i.e. graphic accidental harm scenarios), individuals with ASD would misuse their emotional responses as the main source of information to guide their moral decisions. Conversely, in face of explicit harmful intentions, they would be able to compensate their socioemotional alterations and assign punishment through non-emotional pathways. Despite limitations, such as the small sample size and low ecological validity of the task, results of the present study proved reliable and have relevant theoretical and translational implications.
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