NEUROANATOMICAL CORRELATES OF THE ASSESSMENT OF FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS

FRONTAL cortical damage can lead to changes in affective aspects of pe rsonality. However, the difficulty of dissociating such abnormalities from cognitive disorders has overshadowed most previous findings. Regi onal cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured with positron emission to mography (PET) while normal subjects were assessing facial attractiven ess. Two left frontal regions showed a significant increase in rCBF wh ile assessing facial attractiveness. The increased rCBF in the left an terior frontal cortex correlated with the overall percentage of assess ments of a face as unattractive, while that in the left fronto-tempora l junction correlated with the percentage of assessments of a face as attractive. These findings provide direct evidence that the left front al regions are engaged in the assessment of facial attractiveness.