title: Differential activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex between male and female givers of social reputation.
abstract: Accumulating evidence has shown the profound influence of social reputation on human behavior and has implicated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in representing subjective values induced by social interaction. However, little is known regarding how the vmPFC encodes subjective pleasantness induced by social reputation received from others. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how the vmPFC in males and females encodes the subjective pleasantness of social reputation received from the same gender and from the opposite gender. Behavioral data showed that positive reputation was perceived to be more pleasant than negative reputation. Intriguingly, both male and female subjects showed greater differences in the pleasantness scores between the positive reputation condition and the negative reputation condition from females than between positive and negative reputations from males. Imaging data revealed that the left vmPFC specifically contributed to the processing of positive reputation. The activity patterns of the vmPFC corresponded to the gender differences in behavior during the processing of social reputation. These results indicate that the vmPFC plays a role in representing the subjective value of positive social reputation and that this region might be a final computational site in a stream of value-based decision-making processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Iori
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Kojimachi Business Center Building, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan. Electronic address: ayahito.ito@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ayahito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Kansei Fukushi Research Institute, Tohoku Fukushi University, 6-149-1 Kunimigaoka, Aoba-ku, Sendai 989-3201, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshikatsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Kojimachi Business Center Building, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan; Division of Systems Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, N12-W5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of Functioning and Disability, Faculty of Health Science, Hokkaido University, N12-W5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mugikura
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D057181:Pleasure; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012056:Reinforcement, Social; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Gender differences; Pleasantness; Social reputation; Ventromedial prefrontal cortex; fMRI