Fellow-Klasse 2017/18 Prof. Dr. Sabine Herpertz

Arbeitsvorhaben am Marsilius-Kolleg

Understanding Brain Mechanisms That Mediate Culturally Imbedded Moral Values

Prof. Nüssel and I plan to perform a functional neuroimaging study using magnet resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate brain mechanisms that underlie the processing of narratives mediating culturally deeply imbedded moral values. In addition to elucidating the brain mechanisms that mediate these processes in normal volunteers we aim to detect the abnormal processing of moral values in psychopaths who are known to habitually break the moral code of society. The study will be performed in three steps: (1) We will develop narratives or modify existing narratives on moral values, respectively, in the way that they meet with the experimental conditions of a fMRI scanner environment. (2) The experiment has to be designed in details and has to enter a small pilot study. (3) The actual study including data analyses has to be conducted. We will recruit subjects from the general population scoring high vs. low on the three traits of the Dark Triad (DT) - machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy – based on a questionnaire, that is the Short Dark Triad (SD3). According to their DT-scores based on the SD3, the 25 subjects who score highest and those 25 subjects who score lowest will participate in the fMRI study. Within the fMRI environment, participants listen to narratives which are based on either protected moral values or on conventional values. Data analyses comparing both conditions will be connected using SPM and then published in a journal of neuroscience (other aspects may be published in a journal of humanities).