J. Cosmet. Sci., 71, 37–45 (January/February 2020) 37 Luxury Cues Facilitate the Connection Between Social Dominance and Reward Mediated by the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex NAOYASU HIRAO, MADOKA NORIUCHI, HIROKO ISOBE, and YOSHIAKI KIKUCHI, Shiseido Global Innovation Center, Yokohama-shi 220-0011, Japan (N.H., H.I.), Department of Frontier Health Science, Graduate School of Human Health Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 116–8551, Japan. (M.N., Y.K.) Accepted for publication October 23, 2019 . Synopsis Luxury skin care products have emotional value because of their texture and accompanying product information. The infl uence of these factors appears to be linked. Here, we investigated the infl uence of information on brain activity during hand massages with skin care creams in healthy female volunteers. In the fi rst session, participants received hand massages using two skin care creams (luxury and basic). In the second session, participants were shown information which indicated whether each cream was a luxury or basic product during the massage. In the third session, they received a hand massage as per the fi rst session. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were recorded during massages. Differential activity in the ventral striatum (VS), the caudate nucleus, and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) was signifi cantly higher in the third session than in the fi rst session. Moreover, differential activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was positively correlated with differential activity in both the VS and the DMPFC in the third session. These results suggest that the neural substrate of the effects is based on both the dopamine reward system and the self-other distinction system involved in social dominance and that the right DLPFC plays a critical role in the association between these systems. INTRODUCTION Skin care products are applied to maintain a preferable physical condition (e.g., well moisturized) of the user’s skin. In addition, these products concurrently provide emo- tional value. The fi ne texture of the cream provides comfort to users, stimulating their somatosensory system. Moreover, other types of satisfaction, such as a sense of superiority, can be achieved cognitively through the luxurious image of the brand. This image is provided through product information, the brand story, decorative packaging, and price, which indicates the value. Generally, users focus on information about the luxurious nature of the product when purchasing it. However, if the user associates the information related Address all correspondence to Naoyasu Hirao at naoyasu.hirao@shiseido.com.
JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 38 to the luxurious nature of the product with its texture, the texture itself may provide not only a feeling of comfort but also satisfaction linked to the knowledge that the product is a luxury. When the somatosensory signal generated by the feeling of applying the prod- uct reaches the central nervous system, it may act as a cue, like a conditioned stimulus. Cosmetic manufacturers worldwide are attempting to produce attractive skin care prod- ucts based on not only their texture but also the product information that indicates, e.g., how much luxury it can offer. Understanding the neural mechanism of satisfaction based on the memorized association between the texture of a skin care product and the value provided by the product information may facilitate the production of attractive skin care products. In this study, we have investigated the neural process of associating a product’s texture with the value provided by the product information. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the infl uence of product information on brain activity during a hand massage with a skin care cream, comparing the brain activity before and after the product information was provided to participants. Despite the importance of understanding the neural basis of the effect of skin care product application, no such fMRI study has been previously performed. The caudate nucleus has been shown to be associated with the effective aspect of tactile processes that have a hedonic or motivational component and with the discriminative aspect of touch information processing (1,2). Activity in the ventral striatum (VS), which plays a critical role in the reward system, has been shown to correlate with the score of subjective pleasantness in an fMRI study in which participants applied a cream while being visually provided with the information of its richness (3). Regarding the effects of product information, it has been reported that observing the logo of a favorite brand of car can activate the VS (4) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), a brain region associated with self-relevant processing (5). The value of brand image appears to be related to the cognition of social dominance because possession of goods from luxury brands represents a superior social status that distinguishes the owners from others (6). In addition, the DMPFC is also associated with information processing related to the image of “social competence,” and it may be related to the cognitive values (7). The DMPFC is also a critical region for the self-other distinction system, which is strongly related to the cognition of social dominance. Accordingly, the ability of some brand logos to cause neural activation in the DMPFC is considered to be due to the memo- rized association between the attractive brand image and the logos (4–6). In addition to the caudate nucleus, the VS, and the DMPFC, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) represents associations between rules and expected reward outcomes (8). Generally, many of the values we have in society are based on rules. For example, the value of a product from a luxury brand is based on the rule that it represents superior social status. Thus, the DLPFC may be involved in the association between the reward and social dominance in this context. Here, we have hypothesized that after participants were shown information revealing that a product is a luxury product, brain regions related to the reward system (the caudate nucleus and the VS) and the self-other distinction system (the DMPFC) would be sig- nifi cantly activated. In addition, we hypothesized that the lateral prefrontal cortex plays an important role in the association between the two systems. Thus, we recorded brain activity using fMRI during hand massages using skin care creams and compared it before and after product information was provided to participants, to investigate the infl uence
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