Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42237663›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2026

Disgust Propensity, Not Disgust Sensitivity, Shapes the Reactivity of a Subjective Disgust Circuit in Humans.

Xianyang Gan, Zihao Zheng, Ran Zhang, Feng Zhou, Ting Xu, Nan Qiu, Junjie Wang, Heng Jiang, Shan Gao, Yu Wu and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Xianyang GanThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Zihao ZhengThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Ran ZhangFaculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Feng ZhouFaculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Ting XuFaculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Nan QiuThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0562-0298
Junjie WangThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Heng JiangThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1781-4225
Shan GaoSchool of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7424-476X
Yu WuMIND & AI Lab, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China.
Benjamin Klugah-BrownThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3946-9557
Dezhong YaoThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8042-879X
Benjamin BeckerMIND & AI Lab, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9014-9671

Funding

Hong Kong University Grants Council 17615525Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China 2022ZD0208500National Natural Science Foundation of China 82271583University of Hong Kong seed funding and start-up schemes 2407102536
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Disgust constitutes an evolutionary adaptive defensive-avoidance response, yet humans vary markedly in their dispositional tendency to experience disgust (disgust propensity) and in their negative appraisal of such experience (disgust sensitivity). Conceptual frameworks and neuroimaging studies suggest that these traits may differentially modulate neural responses to disgust-eliciting stimuli; however, methodological constraints have left their precise roles unresolved. Our comparably large fMRI study (n = 142) therefore aimed to systematically determine how trait disgust modulates neural responses to carefully selected and validated disgust-specific visual stimuli across varying levels of subjective disgust experience. The whole-brain voxel-wise regression analyses revealed a differential pattern of neural associations between the two disgust traits, with disgust propensity, but not disgust sensitivity, modulating disgust-related neural activity in the anterior, middle, and posterior insula, as well as the caudate, putamen, thalamus, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus. Mediation and network-level analyses further supported this partly dissociable pattern by showing that disgust propensity shapes disgust experience via insula-striatal-hippocampal pathways. Together, these findings provide evidence for a differential association between disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity with disgust-related neural responses and elucidate how trait disgust shapes subjective experiences. They further suggest that disgust propensity and the identified systems may represent promising targets for the regulation of disgust-related pathology.

Indexed as

Cerebral CortexCorpus StriatumDisgustHippocampusInsular CortexNerve NetPersonalityAdultBrain MappingFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleYoung AdultdisgustemotionfMRIinsulapropensitysensitivitystriatum

Identifiers

PMID42237663
PMCPMC13581101

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.