Problem:
fMRI studies assessing region-specific activation during initial attraction provide insight into how humans process the face of an attractive individual they have not previously met. Participants shown images of novel attractive opposite-sex individuals had rapid activation of the NAc, suggesting rewarding properties of viewing attractive faces [104]. Facial attractiveness is additionally evaluated by a network of cortical regions, including the lateral OFC, ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), and the anterior IC (aIC), with the degree of activity in these regions correlating with perceived facial attractiveness, which is then translated into a romantic interest [104,105]. In an fMRI task where participants were shown photos of opposite-sex individuals, activity in the dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) predicted whether the participant was romantically interested in the person from the photo upon meeting them at a later real-life "speed dating" event [73]. Following initial attraction, learning that feelings of attraction or romantic interest are reciprocated promotes continued engagement. Upon learning of one's own desirability, the posterior temporal sulcus, mPFC, aIC, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) are activated; however, following rejection from a potential romantic interest, the aIC and dACC are also recruited [106,107,108]. These overlapping regions are involved in salience processing and evaluating the emotions of others, thereby contributing to updating romantic interest. Need Assignment Help?