Neural activation during anticipation of opposite-sex and same-sex faces in heterosexual men and women

► We probed reward valuation of opposite-sex faces in a social incentive delay task. ► Anticipating opposite-sex faces enhanced activation in the VTA, NAcc and vmPFC. ► No sex differences were observed in the brain reward circuit. ► Women differentially recruited TPJ during anticipation of male vs. female faces. ► Our data suggest sex differences in social cognition during face evaluation.