Reactivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but not the amygdala, to negative emotion faces predicts greed personality trait

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated whether amygdala reactivity predicted the greed personality trait [GPT] using a classical face-matching task in two cohorts of participants (n = 452). Region-of-interest [ROI] analysis results indicated no correlation between amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry faces to GPT. However, whole-brain analyses revealed that GPT was negatively varied with activations in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex [vmPFC], supramarginal gyrus [SMG], and angular gyrus in the contrast of fearful + angry faces > shape. These findings were robust even when contrasting fearful and angry faces to neutral ones. Moreover, task-based PPI analyses showed that compared to the group with low scores in GPT, the high group exhibited weaker functional connectivity of the vmPFC seed with top-down control network and visual pathways when processing fearful or angry faces. Furthermore, functional connectivity [FC] analyses indicated that individuals with higher levels of greed exhibit weaker connectivity between the vmPFC and the top-down control network and visual pathways. Bilateral amygdala seeds showed positive associations with the top-down control network but exhibited a distinct pattern with decreased resting-state FC with visual pathway. These findings shed light on the neural underpinnings of dispositional greed, emphasizing the importance of the vmPFC and its functional connectivity with cognitive control networks and visual pathways rather than amygdala reactivity in understanding the greed personality trait.