Protecting the Self: The Effect of Social-evaluative Threat on Neural Representations of Self
Protecting the Self: The Effect of Social-evaluative Threat on Neural Representations of Self
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DOI：
10.1162/jocn_a_00343
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发表时间：
2013-04-01
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Beer, Jennifer S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hughes, Brent L.;Beer, Jennifer S.
人们保护自己免受社会评估威胁的最有力的方法之一是强调他们的个人特征的可取性，但这一基本过程的神经基础尚不清楚。目前的功能磁共振成像研究通过检查自我评估的可取性(与其他人相比)作为对威胁的反应来解决这个问题。参与者判断与他们的普通同龄人相比，有多少个性特征描述了他们自己。在这些判断之前，都有威胁性或非威胁性的社会评价反馈。对威胁作出的自我评估显著增加了许多区域的激活，包括OFC、内侧PFC、外侧PFC、杏仁核和脑岛。威胁增加可取性的程度上的个体差异与中间OFC活动显著相关。这是第一次研究基本的自我保护策略的神经联系：通过强调自我的可取性来应对威胁。尽管神经研究已经从社会评估威胁的调节中分别检查了自我评估过程，但对两者之间的相互作用知之甚少。这些发现建立在之前这项研究的基础上，表明通常与自我评估有关的区域，受到人们通过强调自己的合意性来应对威胁的程度的影响。
One of the most robust ways that people protect themselves from social-evaluative threat is by emphasizing the desirability of their personal characteristics, yet the neural underpinnings of this fundamental process are unknown. The current fMRI study addresses this question by examining self-evaluations of desirability (in comparison with other people) as a response to threat. Participants judged how much personality traits described themselves in comparison with their average peer. These judgments were preceded by threatening or nonthreatening social-evaluative feedback. Self-evaluations made in response to threat significantly increased activation in a number of regions including the OFC, medial pFC, lateral pFC, amygdala, and insula. Individual differences in the extent to which threat increased desirability were significantly correlated with medial OFC activity. This is the first study to examine the neural associations of a fundamental self-protection strategy: responding to threat by emphasizing the self ' s desirability. Although neural research has separately examined self-evaluation processes from the regulation of social-evaluative threat, little is known about the interplay between the two. The findings build on this previous research by showing that regions, often associated with self-evaluation, are modulated by the degree to which people respond to threat by emphasizing their own desirability.