Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

Abstract

The nature and underpinnings of infants’ seemingly complex, third-party, social evaluations remain highly contentious. Theoretical perspectives oscillate between rich and lean interpretations of the same expressed preferences. Although some argue that infants and toddlers possess a “moral sense” based on core knowledge of the social world, others suggest that social evaluations are hierarchical in nature and the product of an integration of rudimentary general processes such as attention allocation and approach and avoidance. Moreover, these biologically prepared minds interact in social environments that include significant variation, which are likely to impact early social evaluations and behavior. The present study examined the neural underpinnings of and precursors to moral sensitivity in infants and toddlers (n = 73, ages 12–24 mo) through a series of interwoven measures, combining multiple levels of analysis including electrophysiological, eye-tracking, behavioral, and socioenvironmental. Continuous EEG and time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and gaze fixation were recorded while children watched characters engaging in prosocial and antisocial actions in two different tasks. All children demonstrated a neural differentiation in both spectral EEG power density modulations and time-locked ERPs when perceiving prosocial or antisocial agents. Time-locked neural differences predicted children’s preference for prosocial characters and were influenced by parental values regarding justice and fairness. Overall, this investigation casts light on the fundamental nature of moral cognition, including its underpinnings in general processes such as attention and approach–withdrawal, providing plausible mechanisms of early change and a foundation for forward movement in the field of developmental social neuroscience.

Infants’ Visual Preferences for Prosocial Behavior and Other-Race Characters at 6 Months: An Eye-Tracking Study

“…The failure to observe a preference in the test phase can probably be attributed to the limited exposure time in the test phase (5 s only) compared with the scenario (40 s) as Houston- Price and Nakai (2004) showed that variations in infants' visual preferences can be affected by factors such as stimulus complexity and duration of exposure. Similar observations have been reported by Cowell and Decety (2015) and Wallez et al (2016) using helping/hindering social scenarios. In both studies, significantly more time was spent fixating the helping agent during the scenario.…”

“…The infants' baseline preferences for prosocial behaviors and for other-race cartoon appearance were assessed in prior control conditions. A secondary aim of the study was to use eye-tracking methodology to compare visual preferences captured during the scenario and during the test phase, the assumption being that measures during the scenario would be more sensitive than measures during the test phase among young infants aged 6 months (e.g., Cowell & Decety, 2015;Wallez et al, 2016).…”

Embodied Simulation of Others Being Touched in 1-Year-Old Infants

“…These similarities are especially interesting given the increased understanding of others' subjective feelings (Davidov et al, 2013): although the understanding of others' feelings has yet to be fully developed (Wellman et al, 2001), the supposed underlying mechanisms could already start to develop in the course of the second year of life. These findings contribute to recent work that highlights the neurocognitive basis of early social understanding and the early ontogeny of the social brain (e.g., Cowell & Decety, 2015;Grossmann, 2015). Notwithstanding this strength, further research is necessary to confirm our findings before drawing strong theoretical conclusions.…”

Our Brains are Wired for Morality: Evolution, Development, and Neuroscience

“…your fingers) after they saw these actions [5]! However, most moral judgments require both a rapid, automatic reaction guided by an emotional response, and a more slower reasoning capacity.…”