Abstract: Impression formation is the classical research domain in Social Psychology. As the neuroscience emerges and surges along with the development of imaging technique, researchers have explored this domain from the viewpoint of neuroscience. Impression formations are mainly based on three sources of information, that is, face observation, direct interaction, and secondhand information. Adopting different paradigms, researchers have found that impression formation phenomena and underlying neural substrates are distinct. Generally, observation-based judgments is efficient and precise, frequently recruiting amygdala, while impressions based on secondhand information and direct interaction are involved in deliberative tasks, often recruiting medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior regions of superior temporal sulcus. The neural mechanism of impression formation, the relationships of different cue sources, and its consequences for human judgment and behavior are worthy further investigation.

Key words: impression formation, information cues, neuroimaging, trustworthiness, attractiveness