title: Self-face evaluation and self-esteem in young females: an fMRI study using contrast effect.
abstract: Self-evaluation is affected by facial attractiveness, particularly in females, and may be related to self-esteem. Self-face evaluation is relative to the attractiveness of others ("contrast effect"). In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined both the neural correlates of self-face evaluation using the contrast effect and a neural relationship between self-face evaluation and self-esteem. We prepared the following three types of "target faces": one's own face (S), a close friend's face (F), and an unfamiliar face (O). They were randomly intermingled among same-sex unfamiliar foils during two block-types. Our intention was to evoke positive evaluations of target faces using unattractive foils in one block-type, and negative evaluations using attractive foils in the other. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) exhibited greater activation from the positive modulation for S than for O. Activation in these regions was positively correlated with self-esteem and showed the same tendency between S and F. PCC and VTA, which have been implicated in the processing of self-relatedness and reward, respectively, might play a role in the processing of positive self-face evaluation as self-referential stimuli and social rewards, respectively. These results suggested that the PCC and the VTA are the neural correlates of positive self-face evaluation, and that there is a neural relationship between self-face evaluation and self-esteem. The positive evaluation of a close friend's face might be perceived and processed in the same way as one's own face.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai, Japan. hiraku-oikawa@dent.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiraku
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oikawa
authors.forename: Motoaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsukiura
authors.forename: Carlos Makoto
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Teruko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takano-Yamamoto
authors.forename: Ryuta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kawashima
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D012649:Self Concept; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult