You shouldn't have: your brain on others' crimes

Neuron. 2008 Dec 10;60(5):738-40. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.11.019.

Abstract

Our legal system requires assigning responsibility for crimes and deciding on appropriate punishments. A new fMRI study by Buckholtz et al. in this issue of Neuron reveals that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) plays a key role in these cognitive processes. This finding sheds light on the neural mechanisms underlying moral judgment from a third-party perspective.

Publication types

  • Comment
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Crime / psychology*
  • Decision Making / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*