Data from: Neuroimaging “will to fight” for sacred values: an empirical case study with supporters of an Al Qaeda affiliate

Violent intergroup conflicts are often motivated by commitments to
abstract ideals such as god or nation, so-called “sacred” values that are
relatively insensitive to material incentives or disincentives. There is
scant knowledge of how the brain processes costly sacrifices for such
cherished causes. We studied willingness to fight and die for sacred
values using fMRI among supporters of a radical Islamist group from
different neighborhoods in and around Barcelona, Spain. We measured brain
activity in radicalized individuals as they indicated their willingness to
fight and die for sacred and non-sacred values, and as they reacted to
peers’ ratings for the same values. We observed diminished activity in
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), inferior frontal gyrus, and
parietal cortex while participants conveyed willingness to fight and die
for sacred relative to non-sacred values - regions that have previously
been implicated in calculating costs and consequences. These differences
could not be attributed to differences between sacred and non-sacred
values in emotional intensity, familiarity or salience. An overlapping
region of dlPFC was active when viewing conflicting ratings of sacred
values from peers, to the extent participants were sensitive to peer
influence, suggesting that it is possible to induce flexibility in the way
people defend sacred values. Our results are consistent with a view that
“devoted actors” motivated by an extreme commitment towards sacred
in-group values rely on distinctive neurocognitve processes that can be
identified.