REVIEWS u ce R.right hem Macmllan Magazines d awTehr ted in of facial attractiv ness activate the ventral striatu that the 170 MARCH 2003 VOLUME w.nature.com/reviews/neuro 170 | MARCH 2003 | VOLUME 4 www.nature.com/reviews/neuro REVIEWS and the orbitofrontal cortex66. These structures proba￾bly have a broad role in processing the motivational properties of stimuli. For example, they are also acti￾vated when males find pictures of sports cars more rewarding than pictures of limousines or small cars67.The ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex are reciprocally connected with the amygdala; all three structures can be thought of as components of a neural system that links sensory representations of stimuli with the social judgements we make about them on the basis of their motivational value. Given that the same of the menstrual cycle62, as do other aspects of their cat￾egorization of men63, possibly providing a link between mate preference and probability of conception. Judgements of attractiveness can reflect both aesthetic judgements (for example, males can judge faces of both males and females to look beautiful), as well as motiva￾tional aspects (for example, heterosexual males prefer to look at beautiful female faces rather than at beautiful male faces). These two aspects have been dissociated in functional imaging studies64. The motivational aspects of facial attractiveness activate the ventral striatum64,65 NEOTENY The retention of juvenile characteristics in the adults of a species. 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Signal change in left amygdala (%) Low Med High Low Med Implicit Explicit High 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Signal change in right amygdala (%) Low Med High Low Med Implicit Explicit High R 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 a b Normal Bilat. Right Left Control Normal Bilat. Right Left Control –2 –1 0 1 2 Mean trustworthiness rating JM SM RH 6 4 2 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 –2 Difference from normal mean (in s.d.) 6 SM 4 2 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 –2 Difference from normal mean (in s.d.) JM 6 4 2 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 –2 Difference from normal mean (in s.d.) RH 3 2 0 1 –1 –2 0 20 40 60 80 100 –3 Mean rating given by normal subjects Face stimulus (rank-ordered by mean normal rating) Face stimulus (rank-ordered by mean normal rating) Face stimulus (rank-ordered by mean normal rating) Face stimulus (rank-ordered by mean normal rating) z-values Figure 4 | Investigating social judgement with two different methods. Investigations of the neural basis of judging trustworthiness have yielded convergent results from functional imaging studies in normal people, and from lesion studies in neurological patients. a | Evidence from lesion studies. Bilateral damage to the amygdala selectively impairs the ability to judge untrustworthiness of faces. These data, from three patients (JM, SM and RH), show that the amygdala is not only involved when we normally make social judgements, but that amygdala dysfunction precludes normal social judgement. This does not mean that the amygdala is sufficient for judging trustworthiness, but that it is necessary. Bilat., bilateral amygdala damage (n = 3); Control, brain￾damaged controls with no damage to the amygdala (n = 10, standard error shown); Left, unilateral left amygdala damage (n = 3); Normal, neurologically normal controls ( n = 46), standard deviation shown; Right, unilateral right amygdala damage (n = 4). The lower panels show individual scores from the three patients and the mean rating given by normal subjects. Modified, with permission, from Nature REF. 58 © (1998) Macmillan Magazines Ltd. b | Evidence from functional imaging. The top image shows the activation in the amygdala observed when viewing untrustworthy faces is contrasted with viewing trustworthy faces. The z-values (colour scale) observed in the amygdala correspond to p < 0.025. The bar graphs below show the activation in the left and right amygdala for those faces that received the lowest (Low), medium (Med) or highest (High) ratings of trustworthiness. These activations were measured under two task conditions: an implicit task in which viewers were asked to judge the gender of the face, and an explicit task in which viewers were asked to judge the trustworthiness of the face. R, right hemisphere. Reproduced, with permission, from Nature Neuroscience REF. 59 © (2002) Macmillan Magazines Ltd