Anterior and posterior subareas of the dorsolateral frontal cortex in socially relevant decisions based on masked affect expressions

Socially-relevant decisions are based on clearly recognizable but also not consciously accessible affective stimuli. We studied the role of the dorsolateral frontal cortex (DLFC) in decision-making on masked affect expressions using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our paradigm permitted us to capture brain activity during a pre-decision phase when the subjects viewed emotional expressions below the threshold of subjective awareness, and during the decision phase, which was based on verbal descriptions as the choice criterion. Using meta-analytic connectivity modeling, we found that the preparatory phase of the decision was associated with activity in a right-posterior portion of the DLFC featuring co-activations in the left-inferior frontal cortex. During the subsequent decision a right-anterior and more dorsal portion of the DLFC became activated, exhibiting a different co-activation pattern. These results provide evidence for partially independent sub-regions within the DLFC, supporting the notion of dual associative processes in intuitive judgments.