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Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions
Published on: July 6, 2011
BRAIN REWARD ACTIVITY TO MASKED IN-GROUP SMILING FACES PREDICTS FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Pin-Hao A Chen1, Paul J Whalen1, Jonathan B Freeman2
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States.
Abstract:
This study examined whether neural responses in the ventral striatum (VS) to in-group facial expressions-presented without explicit awareness-could predict friendship patterns in newly arrived individuals from China six months later. Individuals who initially showed greater VS activity in response to in-group happy expressions during functional neuroimaging later made considerably more in-group friends, suggesting that VS activity might reflect reward processes that drive in-group approach behaviors.
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