Core, social and moral disgust are bounded: A review on behavioral and neural bases of repugnance in clinical disorders

Disgust is a multifaceted experience that might affect several aspects of life. Here, we reviewed research onneurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by abnormal disgust processing to test the hypothesisof a shared neurocognitive architecture in the representation of three disgust domains: i) personalexperience of ‘core disgust’; ii) social disgust, i.e., sensitivity to others’ expressions of disgust; iii) moral disgust,i.e., sensitivity to ethical violations. Our review provides some support to the shared neurocognitive hypothesisand suggests that the insula might be the “hub” structure linking the three domains of disgust sensitivity, whileother brain regions may subserve specific facets of the multidimensional experience. Our review also suggests arole of serotonin core and moral disgust, supporting “neo-sentimentalist” theories of morality, which posit acausal role of affect in moral judgment