Moral decision-making involves more internally directed processing, such as self-referential thought and representation of intentions and feelings, than non-moral decision-making. Using fMRI, researchers compared brain activity when people deliberated moral versus non-moral scenarios. Greater activity appeared in parts of the Theory of Mind, empathy, and default mode networks during moral decisions. Higher scores on primary psychopathy showed a trend toward decreased brain activation in an area from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to medial prefrontal cortex during moral versus non-moral decisions.
During lucid dreaming, a subject performed willed movements of fingers, toes, and feet, remembered tasks, and counted sensory stimuli. Dreamed speech was linked to respiration. Electromyographic activity associated with dreamed actions was stronger in flexor than in extensor limb muscles and never appeared in axial muscles.