Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments
Abstract Recent scientific studies exploring the neuropsychological foundations of moral decision-making have shown that moral attitudes and evaluations are significantly influenced by emotion, particularly negative emotionality, as well as personality traits such as neuroticism. Further psychopharm...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01109-9 |
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| author | Róger Marcelo Martinez Li Wei Yang-Teng Fan Yu-Chun Chen Kah Kheng Goh Yen-Nung Lin Cheng-Ta Yang Yawei Cheng Chenyi Chen |
| author_facet | Róger Marcelo Martinez Li Wei Yang-Teng Fan Yu-Chun Chen Kah Kheng Goh Yen-Nung Lin Cheng-Ta Yang Yawei Cheng Chenyi Chen |
| author_sort | Róger Marcelo Martinez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Recent scientific studies exploring the neuropsychological foundations of moral decision-making have shown that moral attitudes and evaluations are significantly influenced by emotion, particularly negative emotionality, as well as personality traits such as neuroticism. Further psychopharmacological research has observed that GABAergic agonists are capable of influencing moral decision-making by modifying anxiety-related emotional negativity and/or through cognitive modulation. The aim of this double-blind, crossover design, placebo-controlled study is to evaluate said GABAergic modulation on moral cognition. Importantly, unlike the aforementioned research, the present study not only utilizes explicit moral evaluation measures [e.g., the Justice Sensitivity Inventory (JSI) and evaluations of moral scenarios], but also uses the morality Implicit Association Test (mIAT) to assess unacknowledged attitudes towards morally charged scenarios. Our results indicate that acute lorazepam administration does not significantly alter moral judgments, including implicit moral attitudes, explicit justice sensitivity, and blame/praise evaluations. Lorazepam-induced changes in moral sensitivity appeared to vary with baseline levels, with individuals exhibiting higher baseline JSI or D scores tending to show greater reductions following administration. These findings support the involvement of GABAergic modulation in moral cognition, albeit without clear behavioral consequences. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9fda6907f4d44add8bfaf1ec900109a5 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-9fda6907f4d44add8bfaf1ec900109a52025-08-20T03:09:35ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-0115111010.1038/s41598-025-01109-9Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgmentsRóger Marcelo Martinez0Li Wei1Yang-Teng Fan2Yu-Chun Chen3Kah Kheng Goh4Yen-Nung Lin5Cheng-Ta Yang6Yawei Cheng7Chenyi Chen8Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Medicine, Yuan Ze UniversityDepartment of Physical Education, National Taiwan University of SportGraduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical UniversityGraduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical UniversityDepartment of Psychology, National Cheng Kung UniversityDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University HospitalGraduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical UniversityAbstract Recent scientific studies exploring the neuropsychological foundations of moral decision-making have shown that moral attitudes and evaluations are significantly influenced by emotion, particularly negative emotionality, as well as personality traits such as neuroticism. Further psychopharmacological research has observed that GABAergic agonists are capable of influencing moral decision-making by modifying anxiety-related emotional negativity and/or through cognitive modulation. The aim of this double-blind, crossover design, placebo-controlled study is to evaluate said GABAergic modulation on moral cognition. Importantly, unlike the aforementioned research, the present study not only utilizes explicit moral evaluation measures [e.g., the Justice Sensitivity Inventory (JSI) and evaluations of moral scenarios], but also uses the morality Implicit Association Test (mIAT) to assess unacknowledged attitudes towards morally charged scenarios. Our results indicate that acute lorazepam administration does not significantly alter moral judgments, including implicit moral attitudes, explicit justice sensitivity, and blame/praise evaluations. Lorazepam-induced changes in moral sensitivity appeared to vary with baseline levels, with individuals exhibiting higher baseline JSI or D scores tending to show greater reductions following administration. These findings support the involvement of GABAergic modulation in moral cognition, albeit without clear behavioral consequences.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01109-9LorazepamMoral judgementImplicit moral attitudesJustice sensitivityGender differences |
| spellingShingle | Róger Marcelo Martinez Li Wei Yang-Teng Fan Yu-Chun Chen Kah Kheng Goh Yen-Nung Lin Cheng-Ta Yang Yawei Cheng Chenyi Chen Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments Scientific Reports Lorazepam Moral judgement Implicit moral attitudes Justice sensitivity Gender differences |
| title | Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| title_full | Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| title_fullStr | Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| title_short | Acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| title_sort | acute lorazepam administration does not significantly affect moral attitudes or judgments |
| topic | Lorazepam Moral judgement Implicit moral attitudes Justice sensitivity Gender differences |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01109-9 |
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