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Reward value of attractiveness and gaze
Open accessAbstract
Faces are visual objects in our environment that provide strong social cues, with the eyes assuming particular importance. Here we show that the perceived attractiveness of an unfamiliar face increases brain activity in the ventral striatum of the viewer when meeting the person's eye, and decreases activity when eye gaze is directed away. Depending on the direction of gaze, attractiveness can thus activate dopaminergic regions that are strongly linked to reward prediction, indicating that central reward systems may be engaged during the initiation of social interactions.
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“The notion that the intrinsic reward value of other women remains constant is further supported by the absence of any interaction between OXT and gaze direction, since returned eye gaze from an attractive person is associated with a higher reward value than averted gaze when a social interaction is initiated (Kampe et al., 2001).”
From Oxytocin Modulates Social Distance between Males and Females (2012) · cites this paper as Kampe et al., 2001
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“In a first attempt to measure frontal alpha activity during an active task, Kylliäinen and colleagues [115] recently reported relatively greater left-sided frontal alpha activity in TDC during viewing of faces with direct eye gaze, reflective of motivational social approach [116], a pattern that was absent in children with ASD.”
From Social “wanting” dysfunction in autism: neurobiological underpinnings and treatment implications (2012) · cites this paper as [116]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kampe, K. K. W., Frith, C. D., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, U.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kampe, Knut K. W.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2001-10-11
- Volume
- 413
- Issue
- 6856
- Pages
- 589-589
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2079332441
- Cited by
- 475
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 17.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2002-04-11)
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- facial attractiveness, gaze, ventral striatum, reward prediction, dopaminergic system, social interaction, face perception, social cues
- MeSH terms
- Basal Ganglia, Beauty, Dopamine, Eye, Face, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Reward, Sex Characteristics
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