A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies of Morality and Its Implications

What is the neural-level basis of human morality? Various empirical studies, such as fMRI investigations, have been conducted to answer this question. However, because the majority of the previous studies have focused on human moral functioning in a specific domain, such as moral decision making or moral affection, they have not been able to examine the common neural substrate of human morality across diverse psychological functional domains. To address this limitation, the present study conducted a meta-analysis based on the previous fMRI investigations focused on diverse moral functions. In addition, philosophical and psychological implications of the result were discussed.