Reward value of loved familiar faces: an FMRI study

We have known since decades about the positive influence of social support and positive emotions on health. Different hypoth esis have been made in order to understand the relationship between these factors and physiological and psychological indexes of health and wellbeing. One of these hypothesis suggest that secure, caring and loving environments act as safety cues that activates the reward system and inhibits defensive reactions. Previous studies from our lab have shown that viewing loved familiar faces activates the appetitive motivational system and inhibits defensive responses. In these study we compared central activation during the passive viewing of loved familiar faces with the activation associated with other highly rewarding stimuli (attractive faces). Our results show that loved familiar faces provoked a higher activation of the brain reward system, e.g. the medial orbitofrontal cortex.