Abstract
More than a decade of neuroimaging research has established that anterior and posterior cortical midline regions are consistently recruited during self-referential thinking. These regions are engaged under conditions of directed cognition, such as during explicit self-reference tasks, as well as during spontaneous cognition, such as under conditions of rest. One of the many issues that remain to be clarified regarding the relationship between self-referential thinking and cortical midline activity is the functional specificity of these regions with regard to the nature of self-representation and processing. The functional profile associated with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is the focus of the current article. What is specifically explored is the idea that personal relevance or personal significance is a central factor that impacts how brain activity is modulated within this cortical midline region. The proactive, imaginative, and predictive nature of function in the mPFC is examined by evaluating studies of spontaneously directed cognition, which is triggered by stimulus-associated personal relevance.
Highlights
More than a decade has passed since the publication of the first neuroimaging study of self-referential thinking (Kircher et al, 2000)
The objective in this article is explore the potential role of the ventral aspects of the medial prefrontal cortex in coding for personal relevance or significance, which can be triggered either externally
The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is selectively engaged in other contexts that are implicit in nature, and in which no explicit self-relatedness judgments are required (Moran et al, 2009; Seitz et al, 2009; Rameson et al, 2010)
Summary
More than a decade has passed since the publication of the first neuroimaging study of self-referential thinking (Kircher et al, 2000). Findings from the ERP literature have demonstrated that the degree of self-relevance (low, moderate, high, non-self) associated with names of persons or places that were presented to participants, modulated P2 activity, which indexes enhanced attentional recruitment, and P3 activity, which indexes increased cognitive processing (Chen et al, 2011). As such contexts are broader than those involving “self-relatedness,” the term “selfrelevance” is commonly adopted as it more accurately captures the function associated with ventral mPFC activity.
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