Cardiac vagal modulation predicts decision-making in sacrificial and everyday moral dilemmas.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac vagal modulation indicates the self-regulatory activity of the autonomic nervous system and can thus be used to assess an individual's ability to integrate physiological, cognitive, and emotional responses in the decision-making process. In this paper, cardiac vagal modulation, quantified by heart rate variability (HRV), was used to predict decision-making in two types of moral dilemmas: First, sacrificial dilemmas which create a moral conflict between utilitarian (acting to maximise aggregate well-being by sacrifice) and deontological (rejecting the sacrifice) alternatives; second, everyday dilemmas which create a conflict between altruistic (acting non-selfish) and egoistic (acting self-centered) alternatives. HRV was analysed in 112 healthy participants before, during, and after

SUBMITTER: Prell R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12000318 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature