据2月27日的《科学》杂志报道说，当另外一个人的行为给你留下“口中一种不好的味道”，你是否想到它所揭示的是远比一个生动的比喻要更多的内涵？一项对表达厌恶时面部肌肉的新的研究表明，这一表达道德判断的习语可能有着深层的生物学根源。
根据Hanah Chapman及其同事的实验披露，一种味道不佳的饮料、一张令人厌恶的照片以及在游戏中遭遇的不公平对待等都会通过提唇肌而使人的上唇翘起及鼻子皱缩。研究人员说，这一研究提供了某些第一次提出的直接证据，即人类的道德系统至少有部分是建立在更为古老的进化适应基础之上的。Paul Rosin、Jonathan Haidt和 Katrina Fincher在一篇相关的Perspective 中对这些发现进行了讨论。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science 27 February 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1165565
In Bad Taste: Evidence for the Oral Origins of Moral Disgust
H. A. Chapman,1* D. A. Kim,1 J. M. Susskind,1 A. K. Anderson1,2*
In common parlance, moral transgressions "leave a bad taste in the mouth." This metaphor implies a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to toxicity and disease, yet convincing evidence for this relationship is still lacking. We tested directly the primitive oral origins of moral disgust by searching for similarity in the facial motor activity evoked by gustatory distaste (elicited by unpleasant tastes), basic disgust (elicited by photographs of contaminants), and moral disgust (elicited by unfair treatment in an economic game). We found that all three states evoked activation of the levator labii muscle region of the face, characteristic of an oralnasal rejection response. These results suggest that immorality elicits the same disgust as disease vectors and bad tastes.
1 Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada.
2 Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada.
