Neurobiología de las emociones neurales

NEUROBIOLOGÍA DE LAS EMOCIONES MORALES
Roberto E. Mercadillo*, José Luis Díaz**, Fernando A. Barrios*

SUMMARY
This work presents a critical review of the historical, theoretical,
and neurobiological bases of the theory of moral emotions.
Neuroimaging methods and protocols used to study the neural
correlates of moral emotions and the analysis of the brain functions involved in theirprocessing, permit the formulation of hypotheses that attempt to understand some emotional and cognitive processes related to moral emotions. One such hypothesis
refers to a neuro-matrix involving sensory systems, brainstemmediated physiological reactions and frontal brain regions processing the interaction between moral and emotional stimuli.
Cross-cultural research on human facial expression hasidentified universal patterns to express basic emotions such as fear, anger,
or happiness. Nevertheless, the experience of some emotions and
their facial expressions are regulated by social and cultural mechanisms. This type of regulation is observed in moral emotions since
they are linked to the interests or welfare either of society as a
whole, or of persons other than the judge or agent.
Twotypical features that identify moral emotions are their typical elicitors and tendencies towards specific actions. The release
of a moral emotion is the perception of implicit and explicit violations of social norms and stereotypes included in personal codes,
attitudes, and beliefs. In turn, the actions ensuing from moral
emotions are communal or prosocial, because they promote a benefit inothers and/or in the social order. Although there is not a
definitive taxonomy of moral emotions, four families of prosocial
feelings are suggested: a) other-condemning emotions (contempt,
anger, disgust); b) self-conscious emotions (shame, embarrassment,
guilt); c) other-suffering emotions (compassion); d) other-praising emotions (gratitude, awe, elevation).
Such emotions are relevant to theconcept of morality because
this is a complex representation that includes models of prohibited actions, notions of good and bad, concepts of fairness, ideals
of justice, or justifications of punitive actions. Moreover, the cognitive processes and behaviors involved in moral emotions are
related to the theory of mind that refers the ability to represent
the mental and emotional states of others,such as their thoughts,
desires, beliefs, intentions, and knowledge. The neurobiological
substrate of this capacity involves cerebral regions related to the
experience of basic emotions, such as the amygdala and the
cingulated cortex, and regions related to complex cognition and
emotional-social contexts, such as the prefrontal cortex and the
superior temporal sulcus.

Neurobiologicalapproaches to moral emotions have become
relevant to study psychopathologies linked to antisocial behaviors, particularly the psychopathic or Antisocial Personality Disorder. Psychopaths show decreased emotional and physiological
reactions to emotional stimuli and deficiencies to identify emotional expressions. However, they do not fail to represent or to
infer others mental states or theory ofmind. Therefore, the psychopathic disorder is not only linked to distortions in interpreting
socially-learned moral values, but also to alterations of cognitive
processes required to link the affective system to moral values.
This assumption is supported by brain-imaging studies demonstrating the involvement of areas associated to the processing of
complex social stimulus and language, such asprefrontal cortex,
orbitofrontal cortex, polar frontal cortex, and anterior temporal
lobe in psychopathic patients. The affected areas also include regions such as the amygdala, ventromedial hypothalamus, thalamus, and caudate nucleus involved in the experience or expression of emotions.
Scientific publications directly referring to the neurobiological
research of moral emotions and the...