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ISSN : 1226-9654
Functionally distinctive neural circuities involved uniquely in encoding facial attractiveness and facial happiness
Abstract
In the present study utilizing functional MRI technique, we aimed to examine the neural circuitries uniquely involved in encoding facial attractiveness and happy expression in the absence of explicit attention. While being scanned, 22 female subjects performed a simple working memory task, where they were asked to report whether a target face was included in an immediately preceding block of 10 novel faces. At the end of the experiment, subjects saw all the faces once again and rated each of them in terms of subjectively perceived facial attractiveness and happiness. In order to examine the neural systems engaged uniquely in encoding facial attractiveness and facial happiness, the hemodynamic responses to face images were modulated separately by the parameters of normative facial attractiveness and happiness ratings. The analyses revealed that the ventral striatum as well as the medial temporal lobe including the amygdala and the anterior hippocampus showed a significant positive correlation with facial attractiveness, but not with facial happiness, whereas the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex showed a significant positive correlation with facial happiness, but not with facial attractiveness. To our best knowledge, the present study demonstrated for the first time that facial attractiveness and facial happiness may be encoded by separate neural mechanisms even in the absence of direct attention.
- keywords
- 복측선조체, 편도체, 대상전회, 자기공명영상, face, ventral striatum, amygdala, cingulate, hippocampus
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