Luxury Cues of Cream Heighten the Reward Value of Its Tactile Experience

In our previous study, the brain activity of areas related to social dominance [dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC)] and reward [ventral striatum (VS)] was compared before and after providing information (cue) indicating that an applied cream was luxury. Both the DMPFC and VS showed significantly higher activation after this cue, and the cue also facilitated the connection between the DMPFC and VS via the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Therefore, it may likewise have an effect on primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory areas. In the current study, we explored this hypothesis by performing correlation analyses of the same data and found a significant positive correlation between the VS and the right SII during the application of the cream even before the cue, and significant correlations between the VS and the right SI, SII, and DLPFC after. These results suggest that the emotional value based on texture is mainly processed through the connection between the SII and VS, and luxury cues further facilitate the connection between the VS and the SI, which plays a role in discriminating the physical aspects of creams. Therefore, we provide neuroscientific evidence of the synergistic effect of luxury cues on pleasant tactile and social dominance feelings.