Fig. 4: fMRI activations and hypothalamic connectivity in response to infectious, fearful and neutral avatars.
From: Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response
a, In the infection cohort, contrasts (red: VTFi + VTNi; blue: VTFn + VTNn) revealed VT activations specific to each face type. Activated regions included the bilateral superior/inferior parietal lobules (SPL and IPL, respectively), S1, supplementary motor area (SMA), middle cingulate cortex (MCC), temporo–parietal junction (TPJ), face-sensitive visual areas (occipital, fusiform and lingual gyri), cerebellum and insula. b, Similar activation patterns were observed for the fearful cohort using equivalent contrasts (N = 20). c, Infection-specific activations (infectious > neutral) varied by avatar proximity as shown for far space (red), near space (blue) and their direct contrast (green). d, Comparison between infectious and fearful avatars (versus neutral) for far (red) and near (blue) space and their direct contrast (green); N = 38. e, DCM revealed modulated hypothalamic connectivity during exposure to infectious avatars. Increased input: from mPFC and aINS. Decreased input: from MFG and ACC. Significant connections (posterior probability > 0.95) to/from the hypothalamus are shown in the connectivity matrix. fMRI activations were thresholded at cluster-level family-wise error correction, P < 0.05; i, infection; n, neutral; F, far; N, near; VISv, ventral visual areas; VISd, dorsal visual areas; OPJ, occipito–parietal junction; IPS, intraparietal sulcus; PMC, premotor cortex; MTG, middle temporal gyrus; HYP, hypothalamus. In a, c and e, N = 18 participants.
