Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-hqrjx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-16T01:33:38.081Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moral somatic marker: new directions for the mechanisms underlying morality in preverbal infants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2026

Yasuhiro Kanakogi Open the ORCID record for Yasuhiro Kanakogi [Opens in a new window]  and
Atsushi Sato Open the ORCID record for Atsushi Sato [Opens in a new window]
Yasuhiro Kanakogi*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Human Sciences, The University of Osaka, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan kanakogi.hus@osaka-u.ac.jp https://babylab.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/
Atsushi Sato
Affiliation:
School of Humanities, University of Toyama, Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan asato@hmt.u-toyama.ac.jp https://sites.google.com/view/asato/
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thomas theorizes that infants have cognitive representations of social relationships. However, this theory does not explain all the findings on infant morality. We highlight these discrepancies and propose that infants make moral decisions based on the perception of bodily responses (interoception), such as Damasio’s somatic marker. This opens up new directions for research into infant morals.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e34
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Blair, R. J. (2007). The amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in morality and psychopathy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(9), 387–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.07.003 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chae, J. J. K., & Song, H. J. (2018). Negativity bias in infants’ expectations about agents’ dispositions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 36(4), 620–633. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12246 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cui, S., & Nakano, T. (2024). Interoceptive brain processing influences moral decision making. Human Brain Mapping, 45(18), e70108. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70108 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damasio, A. R. (1994), Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. G. P. Putnam.Google Scholar
Davidov, M., Paz, Y., Roth-Hanania, R., Uzefovsky, F., Orlitsky, T., Mankuta, D., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2021). Caring babies: Concern for others in distress during infancy. Developmental Science, 24(2), e13016. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13016 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, J. D., Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 293(5537), 2105–2108. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1062872 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haidt, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316(5827), 998–1002. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1137651 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamlin, J. K. (2013). Moral judgment and action in preverbal infants and toddlers: Evidence for an innate moral core. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(3), 186–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412470687 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamlin, J. K. (2024). Evidence for core social goal understanding (and, perhaps, core morality) in preverbal infants. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 47, e130. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X23003059 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanakogi, Y., Inoue, Y., Matsuda, G., Butler, D., Hiraki, K., & Myowa-Yamakoshi, M. (2017). Preverbal infants affirm third-party interventions that protect victims from aggressors. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-016-0037 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanakogi, Y., Miyazaki, M., Takahashi, H., Yamamoto, H., Kobayashi, T., & Hiraki, K. (2022). Third-party punishment by preverbal infants. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(9), 1234–1242. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01354-2 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanakogi, Y., Okumura, Y., Inoue, Y., Kitazaki, M., & Itakura, S. (2013). Rudimentary sympathy in preverbal infants: Preference for others in distress. PLOS One, 8(6), e65292. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065292 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maister, L., Tang, T., & Tsakiris, M. (2017). Neurobehavioral evidence of interoceptive sensitivity in early infancy. eLife, 6, e25318. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25318 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simner, M. L. (1971). Newborn’s response to the cry of another infant. Developmental Psychology, 5(1), 136–150. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0031066 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, A. J., & Sarnecka, B. W. (2019). Infants choose those who defer in conflicts. Current Biology, 29(13), 2183–2189.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.054 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tünte, M. R., Hoehl, S., Wunderwald, M., Bullinger, J., Boyadziheva, A., Maister, L., & Kayhan, E. (2025). Respiratory and cardiac interoceptive sensitivity in the first two years of life. eLife, 12, RP91579. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.91579 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woo, B. M., Tan, E., & Hamlin, J. K. (2022). Human morality is based on an early-emerging moral core. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 41–61. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121020-023312 CrossRefGoogle Scholar