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Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children
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Medial prefrontal activity differentiates self from close others.

Todd F Heatherton1, Carrie L Wyland, C Neil Macrae

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Social Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. todd.heatherton@dartmouth.edu

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
|November 6, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Neuroimaging reveals the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is distinct for self-representation, even when considering intimate others. This suggests a unique neural basis for the self, separate from how we perceive close friends.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Understanding the neural basis of self-representation is crucial in psychology and neuroscience.
  • Previous research highlights the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in self-referential tasks, particularly distinguishing self from unknown others.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the neural representation of intimate others is distinct from, or integrated with, the neural representation of the self.
  • To extend previous findings on MPFC activity during self-referential judgments to include judgments about intimately known others.

Main Methods:

  • Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
  • Participants made trait adjective judgments under three conditions: self-referential, intimately known other-referential, and a control (uppercase letters).

Main Results:

  • Making judgments about the self relative to an intimate other selectively activated the MPFC.
  • This specific activation pattern in the MPFC supports the distinction between self-representation and the representation of even closely known others.

Conclusions:

  • The neural correlates of self-processing remain distinct from those of processing intimate others.
  • While intimate others may be incorporated into one's self-concept, the brain maintains separate neural representations for the self.