Neural responses in the VS. A, The VS as identified by the independent reward-localizer task. The VS was significantly activated (p < 0.05, FWE-corrected within the VS anatomical mask) during the MID task in response to potential monetary gains. Image is shown at a stringent threshold (p < 0.0001, whole-brain FWE-corrected; k ≥ 10) for display. B, Activation in the VS in response to the opportunity stimuli. Neural β values were averaged within a 6 mm radius sphere surrounding the peak voxel determined by the group-level random-effects analysis for the reward-localizer task. Error bars depict SEM; *p < 0.05 (one-sample t test, two-tailed). C, D, Relations between neural responses and subjective emotional pleasantness sensitivities. The neural β for the number of options for SELF minus that for OTHER (βOP_SELF − βOP_OTHER) was positively correlated with that derived from the subjective emotional pleasantness across participants (C). On the other hand, the neural β for choice equality (βOP_EQUAL) was not correlated with that derived from the subjective emotional pleasantness (D). Pearson correlation coefficients (r) and associated p values (two-tailed) are shown in the figure.