Emotional descriptions increase accidental harm punishment and its cortico-limbic signatures during moral judgment in autism.

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Fittipaldi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9889714 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature