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Full-Text Articles in Law

Gun Control: What Goes On In Your Brain, Armando F. Rocha, Fabio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad Jan 2013

Gun Control: What Goes On In Your Brain, Armando F. Rocha, Fabio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

Arguments for and against gun control are polarized at two opposite ends of a broad spectrum: personal liberties and social benefits. Brazil has introduced a referendum regarding the prohibition of firearm commerce and propaganda arguments, similar to the present ongoing discussion in the U.S. It has invoked socially and personally driven issues in the promotion of voting in favor of and against firearm control, respectively. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) technology to study the brain activity associated with a voter’s perception one week prior to Election Day, of the truthfulness of these arguments and their influence on voting decisions. The …


Free Will From The Neuroscience Point Of View, Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha Jan 2013

Free Will From The Neuroscience Point Of View, Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha

Armando F Rocha

There is still a controversy if human volitions and actions are governed by causal laws or obeys free will. Neurosciences start to study the neural correlates of free will by investigating how brains make decisions. Here, some of questions about free will are discussed from the neurosciences point of view taking into consideration a neuroeconomic model of decision making. This model is used here with the purpose of providing very formal definitions of key concepts raised in any free will discussion such as goals, necessity, motivation, etc., and to provide a formal background for discussing decision making. One of the …


Moral Dilemma Judgment: A Neuroeconomic Approach, Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad Dec 2012

Moral Dilemma Judgment: A Neuroeconomic Approach, Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

Morals and ethics are important issues in human societies. Recently, the development of new techniques for studying the human brain has brought moral and ethical discussions to the realm of neuroscience investigations. Controversies still remain regarding the results of studies about morals and ethics and the understanding of the neurodynamics of dilemma judgment, which seems to depend on the nature of the studied dilemma (e.g., personal versus impersonal). Here, we proposed to understand the differences between personal and impersonal dilemmas in the context of losses modeled by neuroeconomic theory. The results show that the dilemma solution correlates nicely with the …