Behavioral and Brain Functions (Dec 2023)

Reactivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but not the amygdala, to negative emotion faces predicts greed personality trait

  • Kun Deng,
  • Weipeng Jin,
  • Keying Jiang,
  • Zixi Li,
  • Hohjin Im,
  • Shuning Chen,
  • Hanxiao Du,
  • Shunping Guan,
  • Wei Ge,
  • Chuqiao Wei,
  • Bin Zhang,
  • Pinchun Wang,
  • Guang Zhao,
  • Chunhui Chen,
  • Liqing Liu,
  • Qiang Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12993-023-00223-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract This study explored whether amygdala reactivity predicted the greed personality trait (GPT) using both task-based and resting-state functional connectivity analyses (ntotal = 452). In Cohort 1 (n = 83), task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (t-fMRI) results from a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis revealed no direct correlation between amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry faces and GPT. Instead, whole-brain analyses revealed GPT to robustly negatively vary with activations in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus in the contrast of fearful + angry faces > shapes. Moreover, task-based psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses showed that the high GPT group showed weaker functional connectivity of the vmPFC seed with a top-down control network and visual pathways when processing fearful or angry faces compared to their lower GPT counterparts. In Cohort 2, resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses indicated stronger connectivity between the vmPFC seed and the top-down control network and visual pathways in individuals with higher GPT. Comparing the two cohorts, bilateral amygdala seeds showed weaker associations with the top-down control network in the high group via PPI analyses in Cohort 1. Yet, they exhibited distinct rs-FC patterns in Cohort 2 (e.g., positive associations of GPT with the left amygdala-top-down network FC but negative associations with the right amygdala-visual pathway FC). The study underscores the role of the vmPFC and its functional connectivity in understanding GPT, rather than amygdala reactivity.

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