Self-referential Task Research Articles

The World According to Me: Personal Relevance and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

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.

Pourquoi les autres me regardent ainsi ? À propos de la sensibilité au regard des patients insulino-dépendants

The neural representation of self is a fundamental question for brain research. Employing activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses, we assessed the commonalities and distinctions between different components of the self by focusing on the ‘physical’ self and the ‘psychological’ self – assessed respectively through face processing and self-referential tasks. We first conducted ALE meta-analyses by computing the convergence of findings on brain activation in self-face recognition and self-referential studies respectively. Contrast and conjunction analyses of these two meta-analytic results were then applied to extract the distinctions and commonalities in self-face and self-reference tasks. Facial self processing was particularly associated with lateral brain regions with a right hemispheric dominance, while processing psychological self predominantly activated cortical midline structures, more specifically the anterior cingulate cortex/superior frontal cortex. In contrast, the conjunction analyses showed that the two aspects of self-processing recruit the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the left inferior frontal gyrus extending to the insula. A framework including both distinct and common neural representation of selfs is discussed.

Enhancing Social Ability by Stimulating Right Temporoparietal Junction

The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is a key node within the "social brain". Several studies suggest that the TPJ controls representations of the self or another individual across a variety of low-level (agency discrimination, visual perspective taking, control of imitation) and high-level (mentalizing, empathy) sociocognitive processes. We explored whether sociocognitive abilities relying on on-line control of self and other representations could be modulated with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of TPJ. Participants received excitatory (anodal), inhibitory (cathodal), or sham stimulation before completing three sociocognitive tasks. Anodal stimulation improved the on-line control of self-other representations elicited by the imitation and perspective-taking tasks while not affecting attribution of mental states during a self-referential task devoid of such a requirement. Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of tDCS to improve social cognition and highlight the potential for tDCS to be used as a tool to aid self-other processing in clinical populations.

Hippocampal activity is associated with self‐descriptiveness effect in memory, whereas self‐reference effect in memory depends on medial prefrontal activity

The self has long been regarded as a unique cognitive structure by virtue of its superior mnemonic abilities. Two separate effects result from this self memory facilitation: self-reference effect and self-descriptiveness effect in memory. Self-reference effect denotes that information processed with reference to the self is better remembered than information processed with reference to others, whereas self-descriptiveness effect indicates that items judged to be self-relevant is remembered better than items judged not to be relevant to self during self-reference task. Although there is a compelling connection between self-reference effect in memory and self mentalization processes indexed by the medial prefrontal activity, the underlying mechanisms of the self-descriptiveness effect in memory have remained underspecified. In the present fMRI study, we used a subsequent memory paradigm to examine the neural correlates of self-descriptiveness and self-reference effect in memory. Participants encoded personality traits while performing self-reference and other-reference task (judged the descriptiveness of the traits to themselves or a famous person "Bruce Lee"), and then were given a test of recognition memory outside the scanner. It is revealed that the hippocampal activity corresponded with self-descriptiveness effect in memory, but the activity of the medial prefrontal cortex and perirhinal cortex related to self-reference effect in memory. These findings suggested that the memory boost for self-relevant items relies on the enhanced relational binding mechanisms employed during self-relevant items.

Memory and Self-knowledge in Young Adults with ADHD

Memory for items encoded self-referentially was examined in college students with Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In Study 1, memory was assessed using the standard self-reference effect (SRE) paradigm—which requires participants to access semantic trait self-knowledge to perform self-referential encoding (e.g., Klein, 2004). ADHD and control groups produced virtually identical SRE profiles: (a) better recall following self-referential encoding than following either semantic or structural encoding; and (b) greater-than-chance clustering in recall of words encoded self-referentially. In Study 2 the self-referential task was altered—its performance required access to personal events in episodic memory (e.g., Klein, Loftus, & Burton, 1989). The ADHD group differed from controls in two ways: (a) they recalled significantly fewer words in the self-referential condition; and (b) their clustering of words encoded self-referentially failed to exceed chance levels. These results suggest the ADHD participants have less well-organized personal narratives than do persons without ADHD, a finding with relevance for memory and planning difficulties documented in people with ADHD.

Differential electrophysiological response during rest, self-referential, and non–self-referential tasks in human posteromedial cortex

The electrophysiological basis for higher brain activity during rest and internally directed cognition within the human default mode network (DMN) remains largely unknown. Here we use intracranial recordings in the human posteromedial cortex (PMC), a core node within the DMN, during conditions of cued rest, autobiographical judgments, and arithmetic processing. We found a heterogeneous profile of PMC responses in functional, spatial, and temporal domains. Although the majority of PMC sites showed increased broad gamma band activity (30-180 Hz) during rest, some PMC sites, proximal to the retrosplenial cortex, responded selectively to autobiographical stimuli. However, no site responded to both conditions, even though they were located within the boundaries of the DMN identified with resting-state functional imaging and similarly deactivated during arithmetic processing. These findings, which provide electrophysiological evidence for heterogeneity within the core of the DMN, will have important implications for neuroimaging studies of the DMN.

Cognitive appraisal and life stress moderate the effects of the 5‐HTTLPR polymorphism on amygdala reactivity

The short allele of the serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism is associated with increased amygdala activation in response to emotional stimuli. Although top-down processes may moderate this association, available evidence is conflicting, showing the genotype influence on amygdala reactivity to be either decreased or increased during emotion regulation. Because the effects of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism on amygdala reactivity are also conditional on self-reported life stress, differences in life stress exposure may account for this apparent discrepancy. Here, we hypothesized that self-reported life stress would moderate the relationships between genotype, cognitive appraisal, and amygdala reactivity. Forty-five healthy never-depressed subjects were presented with emotional stimuli and performed two cognitive tasks: a self-referential task and an emotion-labeling task. Life-stress exposure was measured through a semistructured interview. First, there was a genotype × condition interaction in the right amygdala: short allele carriers displayed increased amygdala activation and decreased functional connectivity with the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in self-referential processing versus emotion labeling. Second, in line with our hypothesis, there was a genotype × condition × stress interaction in bilateral amygdala the amygdala activation during self-referential processing was negatively correlated with self-reported life stress in short allele carriers and positively in individuals homozygous for the long allele, whereas an opposite pattern was observed during emotion labeling. These results confirm that the influence of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism on amygdala reactivity is at least partially under cognitive control. Additionally, they suggest that measuring life stress exposure is a critical step when imaging genetics.

Associations and dissociations between default and self-reference networks in the human brain

Neuroimaging has revealed consistent activations in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) extending to precuneus both during explicit self-reference tasks and during rest, a period during which some form of self-reference is assumed to occur in the default mode of brain function. The similarity between these two patterns of midline cortical activation may reflect a common neural system for explicit and default-mode self-reference, but there is little direct evidence about the similarities and differences between the neural systems that mediate explicit self-reference versus default-mode self-reference during rest. In two experiments, we compared directly the brain regions activated by explicit self-reference during judgments about trait adjectives and by rest conditions relative to a semantic task without self-reference. Explicit self-reference preferentially engaged dorsal MPFC, rest preferentially engaged precuneus, and both self-reference and rest commonly engaged ventral MPFC and PCC. These findings indicate that there are both associations (shared components) and dissociations between the neural systems underlying explicit self-reference and the default mode of brain function.

The neural correlates of implicit and explicit self-relevant processing

Neuroimaging investigations of self-processing have generally focused on the neural correlates of explicit self-reflection. However, very little is known about the neural basis of implicit self-related processes. We utilized the concept of self-schemas to construct a two-task fMRI study that elicited both implicit and explicit self-relevant processes. The sample consisted of 18 participants who were schematic for either athletics or science. In the implicit self-relevance task, individuals made non-self-relevant judgments about affectively neutral scientific and athletic images. In the explicit self-reference task, participants judged the self-descriptiveness of adjectives related to athletics or science. Implicit and explicit processing of self-relevant (schematic) material elicited activity in many of the same regions, including medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate/precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate, amygdala, and ventral striatum. We suggest that processing self-related material recruits similar neural networks regardless of whether the self-relevance is made explicit or not.

Cognitive mechanisms underlying implicit negative self concept in dysphoria.

Whereas explicit measures of the self-concept typically demonstrate a negative bias in depressed individuals, implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), revealed an opposite, positive bias. To address this inconsistent pattern, the authors examined, using a novel paradigm, mental set maintenance (i.e., the difficulty of maintaining active a required mental set) and set operation (the efficiency of executing the mental set while it is maintained). Dysphoric (N = 33) and nondysphoric (N = 30) participants alternated between an IAT focusing on self reference and a matched neutral task. Nondysphorics had greater difficulty in maintaining a negative self reference task compared to a neutral task. Conversely, dysphorics did not exhibit such difficulty, and they maintained a negative self-reference task more easily than nondysphorics. No group differences were evinced in smoothness of set operation. These results suggest that the shield protecting nondysphorics from maintaining negative mental sets is absent in dysphorics.

想起エピソードの感情価と気分状態の一致が気分一致効果に及ぼす影響

Many investigators suggested that self referent tasks facilitate mood congruence effect. Self-referential tasks are distinguished from self-descriptive tasks and autobiographical tasks. When using an autobiographical task, there may be different emotional valences of stimulus words and of recalled episodes. This study used an autobiographical task to investigate whether the emotional valences of recalled episodes influenced the mood congruence effect. Fifty-one undergraduate students were randomly assigned to three types of induced-mood groups (positive, negative and neutral). Stimuli were 40 neutral-trait-adjective words, presented at a rate of one word every six seconds. Participants judged whether they could recall any of their autobiographical memory related to the word, and rated the emotional valence of their recalled memory. Results suggested that not only the emotional valence of the stimulus but also the emotional valence of the recalled is important for the mood congruence effect.

Jumping to conclusions and the continuum of delusional beliefs

The present study examined the jumping to conclusions reasoning bias across the continuum of delusional ideation by investigating individuals with active delusions, delusion prone individuals, and non-delusion prone individuals. Neutral and highly self-referent probabilistic reasoning tasks were employed. Results indicated that individuals with delusions gathered significantly less information than delusion prone and non-delusion prone participants on both the neutral and self-referent tasks, ( p<.001). Individuals with delusions made less accurate decisions than the delusion prone and non-delusion prone participants on both tasks ( p<.001), yet were more confident about their decisions than were delusion prone and non-delusion prone participants on the self-referent task ( p=.002). Those with delusions and those who were delusion prone reported higher confidence in their performance on the self-referent task than they did the neutral task ( p=.02), indicating that high self-reference impacted information processing for individuals in both of these groups. The results are discussed in relation to previous research in the area of probabilistic reasoning and delusions.

Medial prefrontal activity differentiates self from close others

A key question in psychology and neuroscience is the extent to which the neural representation of others is incorporated with, or is distinct from, our concept of self. Recent neuroimaging research has emphasized the importance of a region in the medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC; Brodmann's area (BA) 10] when performing self-referent tasks. Specifically, previous studies have reported selective MPFC recruitment when making judgments about the self relative to a familiar but personally unknown other. The present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study extends these findings to judgments about personally known others. Subjects were imaged while making trait adjective judgments in one of the three conditions: (i) whether the adjective described the self; (ii) whether the adjective described an intimate other (i.e., a best friend); or (iii) whether the adjective was presented in uppercase letters. Making judgments about the self relative to an intimate other selectively activated the MPFC region previously implicated in the self-processing literature. These results suggest that while we may incorporate intimate others into our self-concept, the neural correlates of the self remain distinct from intimate and non-intimate others.

Self-Schemas, Anxiety, Somatic and Depressive Symptoms in Socially Withdrawn Children and Adolescents

The present study examined the hypothesis that negative self-schemas and a range of internalizing problems may be associated with social withdrawal in late childhood and early adolescence. Using in-school peer nominations from the Revised Class Play, 132 eleven- to thirteen-year-olds were classified as withdrawn (n = 40; 22 girls, 18 boys), aggressive (n = 41; 21 girls, 20 boys), or normative control (n = 51; 28 girls, 23 boys). Children completed a self-referent rating task (SRRT), as well as the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The groups were compared in terms of their YSR scores for internalizing problem subtypes, as well as their endorsement and recall of positive and negative descriptors from the SRRT. Compared to the other groups, socially withdrawn children/ adolescents reported higher levels of each internalizing problem–that is, shy/withdrawn behaviors, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and somatic problems. Furthermore, although differences in recall for SRRT positive and negative descriptors were not found, socially withdrawn children endorsed fewer positive descriptors and more negative descriptors than did the normative control and aggressive groups. Moreover, fewer positive self-perceptions were a stronger discriminator between the groups than were more negative self-perceptions. These findings were interpreted within a risk/protective framework of adjustment.

Self-Reference in Elaborative Processing of Desirability of Trait Adjectives

We investigated whether the desirability of trait adjectives was elaboratively processed during self-reference tasks (Exp. 1-1, 1-2) and whether desirability information played a role in memory processes in self-reference tasks (Exp. 2). In Exp. 1-1, 14 participants performed a series of initial tasks and target tasks, which were self-reference, evaluative, or semantic. Responses on the evaluating target task were faster when the initial task was self-reference rather than semantic. Exp. 1-2 demonstrated that information relevant to the evaluative task did not facilitate the process of performing an other-reference task. Although there was no evidence that desirability information had a role in the self-reference effect in Exp. 2, desirability of trait adjectives was specifically processed during self-reference tasks.

Self-referential reflective activity and its relationship with rest: a PET study

This study used positron emission tomography (PET) to identify the brain substrate of self-referential reflective activity and to investigate its relationship with brain areas that are active during the resting state. Thirteen healthy volunteers performed reflective tasks pertaining to three different matters (the self, another person, and social issues) while they were scanned. Rest scans were also acquired, in which subjects were asked to simply relax and not think in a systematic way. The mental activity experienced during each scan was assessed with rating scales. The results showed that, although self-referential thoughts were most frequent during the self-referential task, some self-referential reflective activity also occurred during rest. Compared to rest, performing the reflective tasks was associated with increased blood flow in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the left anterior middle temporal gyrus, the temporal pole bilaterally, and the right cerebellum; there was a decrease of blood flow in right prefrontal regions and in medial and right lateral parietal regions. In addition, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) (1) was more active during the self-referential reflective task than during the other two reflective tasks, (2) showed common activation during rest and the self-referential task, and (3) showed a correlation between cerebral metabolism and the amount of self-referential processing. It is suggested that the VMPFC is crucial for representing knowledge pertaining to the self and that this is an important function of the resting state.

La opinión negativa del sí-mismo en los trastornos depresivos

According to cognitive theory of depression (Beck, 1967, 1976), negatively biased information processing is responsible for maintenance, severity and duration of depressive affect. However, the evidence does not consistently support this assumption. The present study was designed to ascertain if depressed patients have access not only to negative information about the self, but also to positive one. Twenty patients with major depressive disorder, 18 with distimic disorder, and 20 nonpsychiatric controls completed a self-referent task. Instructions to perform the task were manipulated in order to fulfill it taking into account three different time-periods: present, past, and future. Data showed that depressed patients had a different self-perception on each of the three time-periods investigated. Moreover, we observed that they had a more negative selfperception than nonpsychiatric controls during all of the time-periods. Implications for research and clinical practice are suggested.

Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: relation to a default mode of brain function.

Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is among those brain regions having the highest baseline metabolic activity at rest and one that exhibits decreases from this baseline across a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors in functional imaging studies. This high metabolic rate and this behavior suggest the existence of an organized mode of default brain function, elements of which may be either attenuated or enhanced. Extant data suggest that these MPFC regions may contribute to the neural instantiation of aspects of the multifaceted "self." We explore this important concept by targeting and manipulating elements of MPFC default state activity. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, subjects made two judgments, one self-referential, the other not, in response to affectively normed pictures: pleasant vs. unpleasant (an internally cued condition, ICC) and indoors vs. outdoors (an externally cued condition, ECC). The ICC was preferentially associated with activity increases along the dorsal MPFC. These increases were accompanied by decreases in both active task conditions in ventral MPFC. These results support the view that dorsal and ventral MPFC are differentially influenced by attentiondemanding tasks and explicitly self-referential tasks. The presence of self-referential mental activity appears to be associated with increases from the baseline in dorsal MPFC. Reductions in ventral MPFC occurred consistent with the fact that attention-demanding tasks attenuate emotional processing. We posit that both self-referential mental activity and emotional processing represent elements of the default state as represented by activity in MPFC. We suggest that a useful way to explore the neurobiology of the self is to explore the nature of default state activity.

Self-reference effect and real, ideal, and social selves

The self-referent task, which typically asks "Does this word describe you?", has been assumed to require access to the real self. The present study investigated the influence of other selves, the ideal and social self, on the self-reference effect. In Experiment 1, ideal-, social- and real-self referent conditions resulted in better recall than the semantic condition, but there was no difference in recall among the three self-referent conditions. In Experiments 2 and 3, each of the three self-referent asks was shown to have resulted in unique encoded information. The results as a whole suggest that ideal, social, and real selves are rich, well integrated cognitive structures, and support the argument that associating stimuli with self-knowledge is crucial for the self-reference effect.

Cognitive reactivity and depressotypic information processing in children of depressed mothers.

Although high-risk research suggests that children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for psychological disorders, the mechanisms of this risk are not well understood. In the current study, the information processing of children of depressed mothers was compared with that of children whose mothers were not depressed. Half of each group received a priming induction designed to activate cognitive schemas prior to assessment. All children then completed a self-referent processing task that examined the recall of negative and positive information. Results indicate that when primed, at-risk children showed a less positive self-concept and more negative information processing than did the children in the other groups. These data may offer potential clues into the mechanisms of cognitive vulnerability in at-risk children.