University of Toronto researchers say they've found a link between moral disgust and disgust related to unpleasant tastes.

While morality is considered a pinnacle of human evolution, disgust is a primitive emotion that played a key role in evolutionary survival, researchers said.

"Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought," lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in psychology, said Thursday in a release.

The research team found that people make similar facial movements when tasting unpleasant liquids or viewing disgusting objects as they did when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game.

"These results shed new light on the origins of morality, suggesting that not only do complex thoughts guide our moral compass, but also more primitive instincts related to avoiding potential toxins," psychology professor and principal investigator Adam Anderson said. "Surprisingly, our sophisticated moral sense of what is right and wrong may develop from a newborn's innate preference for what tastes good and bad, what is potentially nutritious versus poisonous."

The findings are published in the journal Science.