Self-related processing in the sexual domain: A parametric event-related fMRI study reveals neural activity in ventral cortical midline structures
Self-related processing in the sexual domain: A parametric event-related fMRI study reveals neural activity in ventral cortical midline structures
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DOI：
10.1080/17470910600663137
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发表时间：
2006-03-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Northoff, Georg
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Heinzel, Alexander;Walter, Martin;Northoff, Georg
自我相关加工反映了环境信号对个人相关性的评估，是决策和随后的行为反应的基础。虽然自我相关加工已经在多个领域得到了研究，但一个重要的领域，性领域，到目前为止还没有被研究过。最近的成像研究表明，不同领域的自我相关加工涉及内侧眼眶额叶和前额叶皮质的共同区域，即所谓的腹侧皮质中线结构(CMS)。然而，同样的区域也与性唤醒有关，特别是在性唤醒的情绪处理方面。因此，目前尚不清楚腹侧皮质中线区域的参与是否反映了性唤醒或相关的自我关系中的情绪处理。我们在这里报告了一项参数事件相关功能磁共振研究的数据，该研究使用来自国际情感图片系统的性爱图片来研究性唤醒过程中自我相关加工的神经关联。研究发现，与性唤起相关的自我相关活动在腹侧CMS区域，如静脉内侧前额叶皮质(VMPFC)和周围扣带回皮质(PACC)有神经活动，而与性唤起无关的自我相关活动在背内侧前额叶皮质(DmPFC)有神经活动。我们的研究表明，自我相关可能被认为是由腹侧皮质中线结构的神经活动介导的性唤醒的关键组成部分。
Self-related processing, reflecting the evaluation of environmental signals with regard to personal relevance, is fundamental for decision-making and subsequent behavioral responses. While self-related processing has already been investigated in several domains, one important domain, the sexual domain, has been spared so far.Recent imaging studies suggest that self-related processing in different domains involves common regions in medial orbitofrontal and prefrontal cortex, the so-called ventral cortical midline structures (CMS). However, the same regions have also been implicated in sexual arousal, especially with regard to emotional processing in sexual arousal. Therefore it remains unclear whether this involvement of ventral cortical midline regions reflects emotional processing in sexual arousal or associated self-relatedness. We here report data from a parametric event-related fMRI study that investigated the neural correlates of self-related processing in sexual arousal, using erotic pictures from the International Affective Picture System. It was found that self-related activity associated with sexual arousal showed neural activity in ventral CMS regions such as the venteromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC), while self-related activity not associated with sexual arousal showed neural activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). Our study indicates that self-relatedness may be considered a crucial component in sexual arousal that is mediated by neural activity in ventral cortical midline structures.