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Common and unique representations in pFC for face and place attractiveness
Teresa K Pegors1, Joseph W Kable, Anjan Chatterjee
1University of Pennsylvania.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|December 25, 2014
Summary
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) processes subjective value across different rewards, including aesthetic judgments of faces and places. Some category-specific information is retained in the vmPFC and lateral OFC.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Previous neuroimaging studies suggest a "common currency" for subjective value in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).
- It remains unclear if this common signal extends to aesthetic judgments across different categories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the vmPFC's value signal extends to the aesthetic domain.
- To examine neural correlates of attractiveness judgments for faces and places.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan participants.
- Participants made attractiveness judgments for faces and places.
Main Results:
- Overlapping vmPFC activity was observed for face and place attractiveness, supporting a common value signal.
- A subregion of vmPFC showed distinguishable activity patterns for faces and places.
- Lateral OFC exhibited category-specific responses to face attractiveness and general face responses.
Conclusions:
- The vmPFC supports a common reward evaluation mechanism while retaining some category-specific information.
- Lateral OFC may be involved in stimulus-category-specific reward processing.
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