Temporal dynamics of implicit moral evaluation: From empathy for pain to mentalizing processes

To understand how empathy and mentalizing networks are engaged during implicit moral evaluation of harmful actions, we used event-related potentials (ERPs). Employing cluster-based permutation tests, we analyzed neural activity while participants viewed scenarios depicting intentional harm, accidental harm, and neutral situations, making indoor/outdoor judgments to ensure implicit processing. Results revealed two distinct clusters, peaking at ~170ms and ~250ms showing differences between harm and neutral scenarios, reflecting rapid processing of victim suffering. Differences between intentional and accidental harm emerged later at ~400ms, suggesting subsequent processing of the agents' intention. Source analysis linked the early ~170ms and ~250ms components to empathy-related brain regions, while activity at ~250ms and ~400ms involved mentalizing networks. These findings reveal the temporal dynamics of implicit moral evaluation, suggesting early empathic responses to harm followed by integration with mentalizing processes to assess moral responsibility. Our data-driven approach provides robust evidence for the sequential processing of outcomes and intents during moral evaluation.