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Evidence for a dissociation between moral reasoning and moral decision-making in Tourette syndrome.

Carmelo Mario VicarioNicoletta MaugeriChiara LuciforaAdriana PratoMassimo MucciardiDavide MartinoRenata Rizzo
Published in: Journal of neuropsychology (2023)
Despite the growing interest on how Tourette syndrome (TS) affects social cognition skills, this field remains to date relatively under-explored. Here, we aim to advance knowledge on the topic by studying moral decision-making and moral reasoning in a group of adolescents with TS and a group of healthy controls. Overall, we found higher endorsement (i.e. a greater 'yes' response rate) for utilitarian solutions of incidental and instrumental moral dilemmas in TS compared to controls. By contrast, we reported an overall higher tendency of TS individuals to apply principles described in the moral foundation questionnaire to establish whether something is morally right or wrong. Our results document intact moral reasoning in TS and suggest that a deficit in suppressing inappropriate behaviours and/or altered sense of agency might be responsible for their higher utilitarian moral decision-making.
Keyphrases
  • decision making
  • young adults
  • signaling pathway
  • case report
  • computed tomography
  • magnetic resonance imaging
  • cross sectional
  • mild cognitive impairment