Functional connectome of interpersonal trust and its role in the relationship between interpersonal trust and...

Interpersonal trust (IT) is a trait-based characteristic that refers to the general tendency for someone to trust others, serving as a fundamental component of social interactions with profound implications for well-being. While prior research has consistently established a positive association between IT and happiness, the neural correlates of this relationship remain poorly understood. To address this gap, I employed connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to analyze resting-state functional connectivity patterns in a large sample of healthy college students. The results revealed two key neural signatures: (1) a positive network characterized by connections between the salience network (SAN) and medial frontal regions (MF), and (2) a negative network comprising intra-SAN connections and links between the default mode network (DMN) and other networks (e.g., SAN, MF). These findings suggest that IT formation engages integrated affective, cognitive, and social cognitive processes. Moreover, the IT-happiness association was mediated by the strength of the positive network, hinting enhanced social support processing and cognitive control as potential neural mechanisms. This study provides novel suggestions about the neural correlates of IT and hints at how IT might be linked to happiness via brain networks interaction.