The Frontal Lobes Crack Rose-Colored Views of the Self and Other People

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The Frontal Lobes Crack Rose-Colored Views of the Self and Other People Jennifer Beer1* 1 University of Texas at Austin, United States Poor self-insight has long been a hallmark of frontal lobe damage. For example, patients with frontal lobe damage have been clinically characterized by grandiose beliefs. The exact role of the frontal lobes in achieving appropriate self-insight remains unknown (e.g., Beer, 2007). Instead of questions about self-insight, most of the empirical work on the relation between self-evaluation and the frontal lobes has focused on understanding self-evaluation compared to evaluations of other people. Recent research in our lab has begun to address the role of the frontal lobes in self-insight (e.g., Hughes & Beer, 2010). In a series of lesion and fMRI studies, we find robust evidence that the orbitofrontal cortex is important for preventing self-insight that is unrealistically positive. When compared to healthy and patient control participants, participants with orbitofrontal damage show the most unrealistically positive self-insight. In neurologically intact populations, orbitofrontal cortex activation increases as self-insight becomes more realistic. This research has implications for the psychological processes underlying shortcomings in self-insight in healthy populations and populations affected by frontal lobe dysfunction (e.g., drug abuse, aging, depression).