   Brains creating stories of selves: the neural basis of autobiographical reasoning.D'Argembeau, Arnaud  ; ; Phillips, Christophe et alin Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (in press) Personal identity critically depends on the creation of stories about the self and one's life. The present study investigates the neural substrates of autobiographical reasoning, a process central to the ... [more ▼] Personal identity critically depends on the creation of stories about the self and one's life. The present study investigates the neural substrates of autobiographical reasoning, a process central to the construction of such narratives. During fMRI scanning, participants approached a set of personally significant memories in two different ways: on some trials, they remembered the concrete content of the events (autobiographical remembering), whereas on other trials they reflected on the broader meaning and implications of their memories (autobiographical reasoning). Relative to remembering, autobiographical reasoning recruited a left-lateralized network involved in conceptual processing (including the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and angular gyrus). The ventral MPFC-an area that may function to generate personal/affective meaning-was not consistently engaged during autobiographical reasoning across participants but, interestingly, the activity of this region was modulated by individual differences in interest and willingness to engage in self-reflection. These findings support the notion that autobiographical reasoning and the construction of personal narratives go beyond mere remembering in that they require deriving meaning and value from past experiences. [less ▲] Detailed reference viewed: 16 (1 ULg) Self-reflection across time: cortical midline structures differentiate between present and past selvesD'Argembeau, Arnaud ; Feyers, Dorothée ; Majerus, Steve et alin Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (2008), 3(3), 244-252 The processing of personal changes across time and the ability to differentiate between representations of present and past selves are crucial for developing a mature sense of identity. In this study, we ... [more ▼] The processing of personal changes across time and the ability to differentiate between representations of present and past selves are crucial for developing a mature sense of identity. In this study, we explored the neural correlates of self-reflection across time using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). College undergraduates were asked to reflect on their own psychological characteristics and those of an intimate other, for both the present time period (i.e. at college) and a past time period (i.e. high school years) that involved significant personal changes. Cortical midline structures (CMS) were commonly recruited by the four reflective tasks (reflecting on the present self, past self, present other and past other), relative to a control condition (making valence judgments). More importantly, however, the degree of activity in CMS also varied significantly according to the target of reflection, with the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex being more recruited when reflecting on the present self than when reflecting on the past self or when reflecting on the other person. These findings suggest that CMS may contribute to differentiate between representations of present and past selves. [less ▲] Detailed reference viewed: 66 (6 ULg) |
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