Medial prefrontal activity differentiates self from close others
Medial prefrontal activity differentiates self from close others
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DOI：
10.1093/scan/nsl001
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发表时间：
2006-06-01
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Kelley, William M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Heatherton, Todd F.;Wyland, Carrie L.;Kelley, William M.
心理学和神经科学中的一个关键问题是，他人的神经表征在多大程度上与我们的自我概念相结合，或者与之不同。近期的神经影像学研究强调了内侧前额叶皮质的一个区域[MPFC；布罗德曼区（BA）10]在执行自我参照任务时的重要性。具体而言，先前的研究报告称，在对自我相对于熟悉但个人不了解的他人进行判断时，会选择性地募集MPFC。本项事件相关功能磁共振成像研究将这些发现扩展到对个人熟悉的他人的判断上。受试者在以下三种条件之一进行特质形容词判断时接受成像：（i）该形容词是否描述自我；（ii）该形容词是否描述亲密的他人（即最好的朋友）；（iii）该形容词是否以大写字母呈现。相对于亲密他人对自我进行判断时，选择性地激活了先前在自我加工文献中涉及的MPFC区域。这些结果表明，虽然我们可能会将亲密他人纳入我们的自我概念，但自我的神经关联仍然与亲密和非亲密他人不同。
A key question in psychology and neuroscience is the extent to which the neural representation of others is incorporated with, or is distinct from, our concept of self. Recent neuroimaging research has emphasized the importance of a region in the medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC; Brodmann's area (BA) 10] when performing self-referent tasks. Specifically, previous studies have reported selective MPFC recruitment when making judgments about the self relative to a familiar but personally unknown other. The present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study extends these findings to judgments about personally known others. Subjects were imaged while making trait adjective judgments in one of the three conditions: (i) whether the adjective described the self; (ii) whether the adjective described an intimate other (i. e., a best friend); or (iii) whether the adjective was presented in uppercase letters. Making judgments about the self relative to an intimate other selectively activated the MPFC region previously implicated in the self-processing literature. These results suggest that while we may incorporate intimate others into our self-concept, the neural correlates of the self remain distinct from intimate and non-intimate others.