The Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Modulates Dialectical Self-Thinking.

Fei Wang,Pia Rotshtein,Rui Li,Yang Bai,Kaiping Peng,Pei Sun,Jie Sui,Ying Zhu,Hua Guo,Chun Yuan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00152

Abstract

Dialectical self-thinking involves holding the view that one can possess contradictory traits such as extraverted and introverted. Prior work has demonstrated that the dorsal part of anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays a crucial role in conflict monitoring as well as self-related processing. Here, we tested the function of dACC in dialectical self-thinking using a modified classical self-referential paradigm (self- vs. other-referential thinking), in which participants had to make a judgment whether a simultaneously presented pair of contradictory or non-contradictory traits properly described them while brain activity was recording using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The data showed that activity in the dACC during the processing of self-relevant conflicting information was positively correlated with participants’ dispositional level of naïve dialecticism (measured with the Dialectical Self Scale). Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses further revealed increased functional connectivity between the dACC and the caudate, middle temporal gyrus and hippocampus during the processing of self-relevant conflicting information for dialectical thinkers. These results support the hypothesis that the dACC has a key role in dialectical self-thinking.

Highlights

Humans live in a world that can be full of contradiction
We examined the neural correlates of dialectical self-thinking by manipulating whether presented pairs of traits were contradictory or not in a modified self-referential thinking paradigm and correlated participants’ brain activity in the task with their dispositional level of naïve dialecticism
Based on the literature on self-processing and conflict monitoring, we hypothesized that, for chronic dialectical thinkers, the dorsal part of anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) should play a critical role in dealing with conflicting information in relation to the self

Summary

Introduction

One strategy for dealing with contradictory information that has a long history in philosophy, but a relatively short history in psychology, is so-called ‘dialectical thinking.’ Piaget (1974) described dialectical thinking as the most sophisticated mental operation, extending far beyond formal operations in the development of thought processes. Dialectical thinking has been studied in a range of contexts, from assessments of personal beliefs about the world (ontologies) through to beliefs about the nature of knowledge (epistemologies; e.g., Basseches, 1979, 1984). Previous studies in dialectical thinking have demonstrated the effect of naïve dialecticism in various cognitive domains, such as perception, attention, self-processing, emotion, and attribution Dialectical thinking has been studied in a range of contexts, from assessments of personal beliefs about the world (ontologies) through to beliefs about the nature of knowledge (epistemologies; e.g., Basseches, 1979, 1984). Peng and Nisbett (1999) proposed three characteristics of naïve dialecticism: (i) the principle of change: everything is in constant dynamic flux; (ii) the principle of contradiction: contradiction exists everywhere, and contradictory aspects can coexist in the same thing; and (iii) the principle of relationships or holism: nothing is isolated, and all things are connected.

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