Distinct regions of the medial prefrontal cortex are associated with self-referential processing and perspective taking
Distinct regions of the medial prefrontal cortex are associated with self-referential processing and perspective taking
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn.2007.19.6.935
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发表时间：
2007-06-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Salmon, Eric
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D'Argembeau, Arnaud;Ruby, Perrine;Salmon, Eric
内侧前额叶皮质（MPFC）似乎在社会认知的两个基本方面，即自我参照加工和观点采择中发挥着重要作用。然而，目前尚不清楚MPFC的相同区域还是不同区域介导这两个相互依存的过程。这项功能性磁共振成像研究试图通过析因设计对这两个维度进行操作来阐明这一问题。参与者判断特质形容词在多大程度上描述了他们自己的人格（例如，“你善于交际吗？”）或一位亲密朋友的人格（例如，“卡罗琳善于交际吗？”），并且还被要求站在朋友的角度（即采取第三人称视角）并估计这个人会如何判断这些形容词，判断的对象再次是自己（例如，“按照卡罗琳的看法，你善于交际吗？”）或另一个人（例如，“按照卡罗琳的看法，她善于交际吗？”）。我们发现自我参照加工（即针对自己与针对他人的判断）引起腹侧和背侧前MPFC的激活，而观点采择（即在做出判断时采用他人而非自己的视角）导致后背侧MPFC的激活；这两个维度之间的相互作用引起左侧背侧MPFC的激活。这些发现表明自我参照加工和观点采择调用MPFC的不同区域，并提示左侧背侧MPFC可能参与将自己的视角与他人对自己的视角分离。
The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) appears to play a prominent role in two fundamental aspects of social cognition, that is, self-referential processing and perspective taking. However, it is currently unclear whether the same or different regions of the MPFC mediate these two interdependent processes. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study sought to clarify the issue by manipulating both dimensions in a factorial design. Participants judged the extent to which trait adjectives described their own personality (e.g., "Are you sociable?") or the personality of a close friend (e.g., "Is Caroline sociable?") and were also asked to put themselves in the place of their friend (i.e., to take a third-person perspective) and estimate how this person would judge the adjectives, with the target of the judgments again being either the self (e.g., "According to Caroline, are you sociable?") or the other person (e.g., "According to Caroline, is she sociable?"). We found that self-referential processing (i.e., judgments targeting the self vs. the Other person) yielded activation in the ventral and dorsal anterior MPFC, whereas perspective taking (i.e., adopting the other person's perspective, rather than one's own, when making judgments) resulted in activation in the posterior dorsal MPFC; the interaction between the two dimensions yielded activation in the left dorsal MPFC. These findings show that self-referentiai processing and perspective taking recruit distinct regions of the MPFC and suggest that the left dorsal MPFC may be involved in decoupling one's own from other people's perspectives on the self.