In a compelling exploration into the neural underpinnings of moral decision-making, recent research has illuminated how our sense of agency—the feeling that we are the authors of our own actions and responsible for their consequences—is diminished under coercion, regardless of one’s professional background or environment. This groundbreaking study, conducted by Axel Cleeremans and colleagues at the Université libre de Bruxelles, employed advanced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to explore how the brain processes moral responsibility when individuals are compelled to act by orders, bringing new insights to the fields of neuroscience, ethics, and psychology.
The sense of agency (SoA) is a fundamental cognitive process that anchors personal responsibility. It represents the subjective experience of control over one’s actions and the outcomes they produce. SoA is intricately linked to moral accountability, and disruptions to this process can have profound implications for how individuals perceive their role in harmful or unethical decisions. This recent study investigates how SoA operates differently in contexts of free choice compared to situations of coercion, where individuals follow directives from authority figures rather than acting autonomously.
The research taps into a rich history of psychological and historical evidence revealing that constrained freedom can lead to behaviors harmful to others. From infamous wartime atrocities to everyday acts of compliance, obeying orders often reduces individuals’ self-attribution of responsibility. Despite the societal importance of this phenomenon, the neurocognitive mechanisms involved have remained obscure. This study fills that critical gap by combining moral psychology paradigms with neuroimaging tools to assess brain activity during moral decision-making under free and coerced conditions.
To this end, the investigators recruited a distinct cohort comprising 19 military officer cadets and 24 civilian volunteers. Participants were placed in an experimental paradigm where they could either freely decide or obey orders to deliver a mild electric shock to a fictional recipient. The inclusion of military cadets, accustomed to hierarchical command structures, provided a unique perspective on how professional environment and training might modulate neural correlates of moral responsibility and agency.
Central to their methodology was the measurement of SoA through temporal binding, a perceptual phenomenon where voluntary actions and their effects are perceived as temporally closer, reinforcing the sense that one caused the ensuing event. Under coercion, temporal binding is known to diminish, reflecting a weakened sense of agency. By quantifying this effect and coupling it with whole-brain fMRI data, the researchers could pinpoint specific neural networks associated with fluctuations in agency attributable to coercion.
Findings revealed a striking and consistent pattern: regardless of whether participants were military or civilian, the experience of agency significantly declined when participants followed orders. This suggests that the cognitive architecture underpinning moral responsibility is deeply conserved across populations, resilient against the influence of professional military training or civilian background. Such results challenge assumptions that military personnel might possess distinct neural mechanisms for processing coercion in moral decisions due to their specialized training.
Neuroimaging data highlighted the involvement of several brain areas linked to this modulation of agency. The occipital lobe, typically associated with visual processing, exhibited activity that correlates with shifts in agency perception, potentially reflecting altered sensory or attentional processes under coercion. The frontal gyrus, a region implicated in executive functions and moral reasoning, also showed engagement, pointing to its role in monitoring decision-making contexts and integrating social and hierarchical information. Additionally, the precuneus, known for self-referential processing and agency judgments, was active, underscoring its critical participation in maintaining a coherent self-experience during moral dilemmas.
Axel Cleeremans, lead author of the study, emphasized the generalizability of these results. He stated that the reduction in SoA during coercion was not influenced by the professional background, indicating that everyday environments exert minimal effect on the neural basis of moral agency. This insight expands the relevance of these findings beyond military contexts, potentially illuminating mechanisms underlying compliance and moral disengagement in various social domains.
However, the study also highlights important nuances related to hierarchy and responsibility. Although no significant differences were found between civilians and officer cadets, Cleeremans cautioned that the military participants in this study were trained officers, individuals typically socialized to accept responsibility for their actions. Previous research has suggested that lower-ranking individuals might exhibit a more pronounced reduction in sense of agency, raising essential questions about how rank and hierarchical position shape moral cognition and responsibility attribution.
These findings pave the way for more targeted research into how authority and coercion influence moral behavior, especially across different societal roles and ranks. The impact of hierarchical structures on moral responsibility has vital implications for training programs, legal accountability, and ethical standards in both military and civilian institutions. Understanding the neurobiological basis of these processes can contribute to developing interventions that strengthen personal accountability even under pressure to obey orders.
Moreover, the study’s innovative use of temporal binding as a behavioral marker combined with fMRI offers a robust framework for investigating moral cognition under varying degrees of freedom and coercion. This integrated approach exemplifies the power of cognitive neuroscience to disentangle complex moral phenomena and opens avenues for studying disorders characterized by impairments in agency and responsibility, such as psychopathy or dissociative disorders.
Supported by the Fundação Bial, this research signifies a leap forward in deciphering the neural correlates that govern our perception of moral authorship. By demonstrating that the neural underpinnings of the sense of agency remain stable across different professional and social environments, the study invites reconsideration of traditional assumptions about moral responsibility in hierarchical settings.
As societies grapple with ethical dilemmas involving obedience and authority, these insights are invaluable. They remind us that the feeling of being the author of our own actions is a fragile construct, easily eroded by coercion, but deeply rooted in shared neural substrates. Protecting and fostering this sense of agency may be crucial in ensuring moral accountability and preventing harm that follows unquestioned obedience.
In sum, the intersection of neuroscience, morality, and social hierarchy explored by Cleeremans and colleagues offers profound implications for understanding human behavior. It calls for further exploration into how agency can be preserved or restored in contexts of coercion and emphasizes the importance of responsibility training within hierarchical organizations to mitigate the ethical risks of diminished moral agency.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Neural correlates of the sense of agency in free and coerced moral decision-making among civilians and military personnel
News Publication Date: 3-Mar-2025
Web References:
https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/35/3/bhaf049/8069363?redirectedFrom=fulltext
https://fbial.yggycloud.com/archivesearch.aspx?base=fbial&search=cod%3a%22PT%2fFB%2fBL-2018-150%24%22&page=1&format=
https://www.ulb.be/
References:
Cleeremans, A., et al. (2025). Neural correlates of the sense of agency in free and coerced moral decision-making among civilians and military personnel. Cerebral Cortex. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaf049
Keywords: Neuroscience, moral decision-making, sense of agency, fMRI, coercion, military, hierarchy, temporal binding, moral responsibility
