Regional homogeneity of intrinsic brain activity correlates with justice sensitivity

Abstract

Individuals differ systematically in their vulnerability to injustice. Previous studies have developed the efficient measurement of justice sensitivity from four perspectives (victim, observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator), and examined its effect on interpersonal interactions, but little is known about the neural correlates of justice sensitivity. The present study used regional homogeneity (ReHo) as an index in resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to identify brain regions correlated with individual differences in justice sensitivity. Results showed that victim sensitivity was positively associated with ReHo of the paracentral lobule; observer sensitivity was positively associated with the temporal pole; beneficiary sensitivity was positively associated with bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and negatively correlated with the amygdala; and perpetrator sensitivity was negatively associated with bilateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC), and positively correlated with the dorsal striatum. Our results revealed the associations between individual differences in justice sensitivity and intrinsic brain activity, and implicated the underlying differences among the four perspectives.