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Moral machines: The neural correlates of moral judgment and its importance for the implementation of artificial moral agency
University of Skövde, School of Bioscience.
2020 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 15 credits / 22,5 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Society and technology are advancing, in which morality is being artificially implemented into machines, often known as artificial moral agency. Along with this implementation, knowledge about the underpinnings of morality, such as the neurocognitive and ethical basis are an important matter. Human moral judgment has been speculated to be a function for survival, as it favors altruism and prosocial behavior. The neural correlates of moral judgment stem from several structures of the human brain that control cognitive and affective functions such as decision making, cognitive control, theory of mind (ToM) and empathy. In relation to these, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been widely linked to moral behavior such as ToM and moral judgment. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been linked to regulation of conflict and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) to remain cognitive control, which both have strong correlations to moral behavior. Damage to areas such as the vmPFC and ACC have demonstrated abnormal response to guilt, ToM, empathy, risky behavior as well as sociopathic tendencies, which emphasizes the importance of these structures for human morality. By investigating research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, moral psychology and machine ethics, this thesis aims at seeking out the importance of cognitive neuroscience for the development of artificial moral agency and to furthermore discuss the necessity of emotions in artificial moral agents, which naturally lack the affective part of moral judgment. Lastly, this thesis will cover some of the main dilemmas with this integration and some future implications.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. , p. 39
Keywords [en]
Neural correlates, moral judgment, deficits, machine ethics, artificial moral agents, moral dilemmas
National Category
Neurosciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:his:diva-18787OAI: oai:DiVA.org:his-18787DiVA, id: diva2:1452296
Subject / course
Cognitive Neuroscience
Educational program
Cognitive Neuroscience - Applied Positive Psychology
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2020-07-06 Created: 2020-07-06 Last updated: 2020-07-06Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Citation style
  • apa
  • apa-cv
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
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More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
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  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
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Output format
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