Study: What is the price of beauty?
Researchers at Duke University in Durham, N.C., have used functional MRI (fMRI) to demonstrate how people make decisions about attractiveness and what that attractiveness is worth. The research was published online Feb. 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Senior author Scott Huettel, PhD, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke, and colleagues scanned a group of heterosexual men viewing a set of female faces that had previously been rated for attractiveness, as well as images of money. Later, the men were asked to make a series of economic decisions—should they spend a lot of money to view an attractive face, or spend less money to see a less attractive face.
Each of the study participants made about 100 of these decisions, spending from 0.1 to 0.12 cents each times.
The researchers measured fMRI activation while the participants were viewing the images of both the faces and the money. They found increased activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) of the participants when they saw a more attractive face or a larger amount of money. And farther back in the brain, within the posterior VMPFC, the researchers could see the relative activation to images of the faces compared to the money, which they said strongly predicted the manner in which a participant would later spend money in order to see an attractive face.
"Previous studies have shown that active decisions about the value of real goods, such as candy or consumer products, evoke activation in the VMPFC,” said Huettel. “Our study demonstrates that the VMPFC actually contains two signals for value: one that indicates how much value we are currently experiencing, and another that indicates how much we'd be willing to pay to have that experience again later."
“Our study demonstrates that the VMPFC actually contains two signals for value: one that indicates how much value we are currently experiencing, and another that indicates how much we'd be willing to pay to have that experience again later," said lead author David V. Smith, a graduate student in psychology and neuroscience.
Senior author Scott Huettel, PhD, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke, and colleagues scanned a group of heterosexual men viewing a set of female faces that had previously been rated for attractiveness, as well as images of money. Later, the men were asked to make a series of economic decisions—should they spend a lot of money to view an attractive face, or spend less money to see a less attractive face.
Each of the study participants made about 100 of these decisions, spending from 0.1 to 0.12 cents each times.
The researchers measured fMRI activation while the participants were viewing the images of both the faces and the money. They found increased activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) of the participants when they saw a more attractive face or a larger amount of money. And farther back in the brain, within the posterior VMPFC, the researchers could see the relative activation to images of the faces compared to the money, which they said strongly predicted the manner in which a participant would later spend money in order to see an attractive face.
"Previous studies have shown that active decisions about the value of real goods, such as candy or consumer products, evoke activation in the VMPFC,” said Huettel. “Our study demonstrates that the VMPFC actually contains two signals for value: one that indicates how much value we are currently experiencing, and another that indicates how much we'd be willing to pay to have that experience again later."
“Our study demonstrates that the VMPFC actually contains two signals for value: one that indicates how much value we are currently experiencing, and another that indicates how much we'd be willing to pay to have that experience again later," said lead author David V. Smith, a graduate student in psychology and neuroscience.