Does Embodying a Divine Avatar Influence Moral Decisions? An Immersive Virtual Reality Study.

The term Proteus effect refers to the changes in attitudes and behavior induced by the characteristics of an embodied virtual agent. Whether the effect can extend to the moral sphere is currently unknown. To deal with this issue, we investigated if embodying virtual agents (i.

Modulating preferences during intertemporal choices through exogenous midfrontal transcranial alternating current stimulation: A registered report.

Decision conflicts may arise when the costs and benefits of choices are evaluated as a function of outcomes predicted along a temporal dimension. Electrophysiology studies suggest that during performance monitoring a typical oscillatory activity in the theta rhythm, named midfrontal theta, may index conflict processing and resolution. In the present within-subject, sham controlled, cross-over preregistered study, we delivered online midfrontal transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to modulate electrocortical activity during intertemporal decisions.

Ownership of the affected leg is further reduced following deceptive behaviors in body integrity dysphoria.

Although predicted by the notion of embodied morality, it remains unknown whether a reduced sense of body ownership (SoO) is associated with increased or decreased dishonesty. To clarify this issue, we tested patients with body integrity dysphoria (BID), a clinical condition characterized by chronic reductions of SoO toward one leg that patients persistently desire to have amputated. Participants with BID played a card game in which they could voluntarily tell the truth or cheat an opponent, and thus either steal or give them money.

Reduced ownership over a virtual body modulates dishonesty.

Although studies suggest that even higher-order functions can be embodied, whether body awareness may bias moral decisions toward (dis)honesty remains underinvestigated. Here, we tested if the Sense of body Ownership (SoO) and the magnitude of monetary rewards influence the tendency to act immorally. Through a virtual body, participants played a card game in which they could lie to others to steal high or low amounts of money.

Human moral decision-making through the lens of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia (BG) and thalamocortical circuitry. While defective motor control has long been considered the defining symptom of PD, mounting evidence indicates that the BG are fundamentally important for a multitude of cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes in addition to motor function. Here, we review alterations in moral decision-making in people with PD, specifically in the context of deceptive behavior.

Midfrontal-occipital θ-tACS modulates cognitive conflicts related to bodily stimuli.

Neurophysiological studies show that during tasks tapping cognitive control (like the flanker task), midfrontal theta (MFθ) oscillations are associated with conflict and error processing and neural top-down modulation of perceptual processing. What remains unknown is whether perceptual encoding of category-specific stimuli (e.g.

Visual feedback from a virtual body modulates motor illusion induced by tendon vibration.

Frequency-specific tendon vibration (TV) elicits illusory kinesthetic sensations around the vibrated body parts. Studies indicate that vision plays a fundamental role in modulating such illusions. In our current study, we used immersive virtual reality (IVR) to investigate the role of body-related visual feedback in modulating illusory sensation of movement in the left arm.

Freedom to act enhances the sense of agency, while movement and goal-related prediction errors reduce it.

The Sense of Agency (SoA) is the experience of controlling one's movements and their external consequences. Accumulating evidence suggests that freedom to act enhances SoA, while prediction errors are known to reduce it. Here, we investigated if prediction errors related to movement or to the achievement of the goal of the action exert the same influence on SoA during free and cued actions.

Bound to the group and blinded by the leader: ideological leader-follower dynamics in a trust economic game.

Understanding the dynamics of trustworthiness in ideological contexts could influence human societies, affect electoral campaigns and ultimately impact democracy. We tested trust behaviour towards political leaders in a sample of 121 opposing/supporting voters assigned as trustors in an iterative trust game (TG). In two experiments, a famous Italian conservative leader (i.