title: Gender differences in ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity associated with valuation of faces.
abstract: Psychological studies have indicated that males exhibit stronger preferences for physical attributes in the opposite gender, such as facial attractiveness, than females. However, whether gender differences in mate preference originate from differential brain activity remains unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the patterns of brain activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a region critical for the valuation of faces, in response to elderly male, elderly female, young male, and young female faces. During fMRI, male and female subjects were presented with a face and asked to rate its pleasantness. Following fMRI, the subjects were presented with pairs of faces and asked to select the face that they preferred. We analyzed the vmPFC activity during the pleasantness-rating task according to the gender of the face stimulus (male and female) and the age of the face stimulus (elderly and young). Consistent with the results of previous studies, the vmPFC activity parametrically coded the subjective value of faces. Importantly, the vmPFC activity was sensitive to physical attributes, such as the youthfulness and gender of the faces, only in the male subjects. These findings provide a possible neural explanation for gender differences in mate preference.
authors.affiliation: Kansei Fukushi Research Institute, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Japan. Electronic address: ayahito.ito@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ayahito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Kansei Fukushi Research Institute, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshikatsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhito
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, 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, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of Functioning and Disability, Faculty of Health Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mugikura
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, 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, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004954:Esthetics; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: face; functional MRI; gender difference; value; ventromedial prefrontal cortex