Roles of medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex in self-evaluation
Jennifer S Beer1, Michael V Lombardo, Jamil Palacios Bhanji
1Department of Psychology, University of Texas, 1 University Station A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA. beer@mail.utexas.edu
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|November 21, 2009
Summary
This study reveals how the brain processes on-line self-evaluations and corrects judgment errors. Orbitofrontal cortex activity predicts and reduces overconfidence in self-assessment.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Frontal lobe research on self-evaluation typically focuses on abstract qualities.
- On-line self-evaluations and correcting judgment errors are crucial but less studied aspects of self-assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate frontal lobe involvement in on-line self-evaluation and the correction of self-evaluation biases.
- To explore the neural basis of overconfidence in task performance.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine brain activity during two reasoning tasks.
- One task was designed to elicit overconfident self-evaluations due to misleading information.
Main Results:
- Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) showed general involvement in on-line self-evaluations, irrespective of accuracy.
- Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity negatively predicted individual differences in overconfidence.
- OFC activity was negatively associated with confidence levels on incorrect trials.
Conclusions:
- The medial prefrontal cortex supports general on-line self-evaluation processes.
- The orbitofrontal cortex plays a role in modulating self-evaluation accuracy and reducing overconfidence.
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