Brain Structural Bases of Tendency to Forgive: evidence from a young adults sample using voxel-based morphometry

Tendency to forgive refers to one’s global dispositional level of forgiveness across situations and relationships. Brain imaging studies examined activation patterns underlying forgiving response, yet focal differences in brain structures related to tendency to forgive have never been investigated....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-12, Vol.7 (1), p.16856-7, Article 16856
Main Authors: Li, Haijiang, Chen, Qunlin, Lu, Jiamei, Qiu, Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1457/1945
631/378/2645/2648
631/378/3919
Adolescent
Adult
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping
Cognitive ability
Cortex (frontal)
Cortex (insular)
Female
Forgiveness
Frontal gyrus
Gray Matter - anatomy & histology
Gray Matter - diagnostic imaging
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Morphometry
multidisciplinary
Neuroimaging
Prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex - anatomy & histology
Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Studies
Substantia alba
Substantia grisea
White Matter - anatomy & histology
White Matter - diagnostic imaging
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:Tendency to forgive refers to one’s global dispositional level of forgiveness across situations and relationships. Brain imaging studies examined activation patterns underlying forgiving response, yet focal differences in brain structures related to tendency to forgive have never been investigated. In this study, voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate relations between gray matter/white matter volume (GMV/WMV) and individual differences in tendency to forgive in a large young sample. Participants were 199 young students (60 men) who completed the tendency to forgive scale (TTF) and underwent an anatomical magnetic resonance imaging scan. Results showed that higher TTF scores were associated with larger GMV in the regions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and smaller GMV in the regions of the right insular cortex and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Moreover, higher TTF scores were also related to smaller WMV in the regions of the left IFG. Together, these findings suggest structural variations for individual differences in the tendency to forgive, distributed across different brain regions associated with empathic response and cognitive control.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-16868-3