The neural correlates of desire

• Published in: PLoS ONE Vol. 3; no. 8; p. e3027
• Main Authors: Kawabata, Hideaki, Zeki, Semir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science (PLoS) 27.08.2008; Public Library of Science
• Subjects: Adult; AMYGDALA RESPONSE; ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX; Anxiety; Brain; Brain - physiology; Brain mapping; Cortex (cingulate); Cortex (frontal); Developmental biology; Emotions; Expected values; Experiments; FACE PERCEPTION; FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS; Facial Expression; Female; Females; Functional Laterality; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION; HUMAN BRAIN; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Japan; Laboratories; LATERAL OCCIPITAL COMPLEX; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicine; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Neurobiology; Neuroscience/Cognitive Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Psychology; Neurosciences; NUCLEUS-ACCUMBENS; ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX; Pictures; Quantitative psychology; Radiology and Medical Imaging/Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Research Article; Science; Sexual orientation; Social Behavior; Social Desirability; Specialization; Stimuli; Taxonomy; Tidal bores; Visual cortex; Visual perception; VISUAL SEXUAL STIMULI; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003027

In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices.