LUXURY CUES FACILITATE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SOCIAL DOMINANCE AND REWARD 43 cue of cream A were participants able to more clearly discriminate it from cream B. Activity in the VS has been reported to be linked to pleasant feelings associated with contact with skin care cream (3). In addition, the VS plays a critical role in the processing of reward outcome and expectation. It is involved in many kinds of reward such as money, pleasant feelings associated with contact with skin care cream (3), and satisfaction based on social comparison (13). Accordingly, the luxury cue provided by the product informa- tion might associate the texture of cream A with its emotional and social value. We also observed that the DMPFC was signifi cantly activated after participants visually received product information. It has been reported that the DMPFC is related to the psychological function of comparing oneself with others (11). Furthermore, the activity of the middle frontal gyrus cluster, which overlaps with an area of the DMPFC, has been shown to be infl uenced by social feedback such as smiling or anger (9). Moreover, the DMPFC plays an important role in the evaluation of brand images, which may be related to its involve- ment in the cognition of social dominance because possessing goods from luxury brands can represent a superior social status that distinguishes the owner from others (6). Accordingly, the activation we observed that the DMPFC is likely to be strongly linked to the cognition of social dominance. In an fMRI study into decision-making which is driven by the expected reward value, it has been shown that the DLPFC plays a direct role Figure 3. Averaged beta values for Luxury versus Basic creams in each brain region. In the fi rst session, there were no signifi cant differences in any brain region. The activities of each region in Luxury compared with Basic were signifi cantly higher in the third session compared with the fi rst session. First: pre-Luxury versus pre-Basic third: post-Luxury versus post-Basic third versus fi rst: third (post-Luxury vs. post-Basic) versus fi rst (pre-Luxury vs. pre-Basic).

JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 44 Figure 4. Correlations between the DLPFC, the VS, and the DMPFC in the fi rst and third sessions. The correlations between the DLPFC and VS, and the DLPFC and the DMPFC became statistically signifi cant after perceiving product information. in the motivational processes which represent associations between rules and expected reward outcomes (8). Here, the activity in the DLPFC was correlated with the activity in both the DMPFC and the VS, suggesting that this region serves as an integrative hub linking rule (luxury represents social dominance) and reward (social dominance is rewarding). Our fi ndings prov ide further implications for the value of cosmetic products in consum- ers’ lives. First, skin care products with information indicating that they are luxury items may provide satisfaction to consumers in the context of social dominance. Second, the social dominance-related effect of the product information can be triggered by touching the product even when the information is not present if it has been presented previously. The cosmetics industry contributes to enhancing the quality of life in our society through the psychophysiological effects which are offered by the products such as soothing feel caused by the texture of skin care creams (13) or modifi cation of appearance which con- siderably improves self-confi dence (14). From the results of this experiment, we may be able to consider the potential of information regarding the luxury offered by the product to improve consumer satisfaction. LIMITATIONS In th is study, we observed the effects of providing information about two kinds of skin care creams. It would have been better to use a range of skin care products such as skin lotion, skin milk, and serum, to assess if these results are applicable to skin care products