title: Anterior and posterior subareas of the dorsolateral frontal cortex in socially relevant decisions based on masked affect expressions.
abstract: Socially-relevant decisions are based on clearly recognizable but also not consciously accessible affective stimuli. We studied the role of the dorsolateral frontal cortex (DLFC) in decision-making on masked affect expressions using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our paradigm permitted us to capture brain activity during a pre-decision phase when the subjects viewed emotional expressions below the threshold of subjective awareness, and during the decision phase, which was based on verbal descriptions as the choice criterion. Using meta-analytic connectivity modeling, we found that the preparatory phase of the decision was associated with activity in a right-posterior portion of the DLFC featuring co-activations in the left-inferior frontal cortex. During the subsequent decision a right-anterior and more dorsal portion of the DLFC became activated, exhibiting a different co-activation pattern. These results provide evidence for partially independent sub-regions within the DLFC, supporting the notion of dual associative processes in intuitive judgments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, D-40225, Germany.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prochnow
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, D-40225, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunheim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, D-40225, Germany.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kossack
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, D-40225, Germany.
authors.forename: Simon B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Eickhoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, D-33615, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Markowitsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, D-40225, Germany.
authors.forename: Rüdiger J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Seitz
keywords: decision-making; dorsolateral frontal cortex; functional connectivity; functional magnetic resonance imaging; masked affect expressions