[en] Recent neuroimaging research has revealed that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is consistently engaged when people form mental representations of themselves. However, the precise function of this region in self-representation is not yet fully understood. Here, we investigate whether the MPFC contributes to epistemic and emotive investments in self-views, which are essential components of the self-concept that stabilize self-views and shape how one feels about oneself. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that the level of activity in the MPFC when people think about their personal traits (by judging trait adjectives for self-descriptiveness) depends on their investments in the particular self-view under consideration, as assessed by postscan rating scales. Furthermore, different forms of investments are associated with partly distinct medial prefrontal areas: a region of the dorsal MPFC is uniquely related to the degree of certainty with which a particular self-view is held (one's epistemic investment), whereas a region of the ventral MPFC responds specifically to the importance attached to this self-view (one's emotive investment). These findings provide new insight into the role of the MPFC in self-representation and suggest that the ventral MPFC confers degrees of value upon the particular conception of the self that people construct at a given moment.
Research center :
GIGA CRC (Cyclotron Research Center) In vivo Imaging-Aging & Memory - ULiège
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
D'Argembeau, Arnaud ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie, Cognition & Comportement et Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron
Jedidi, Haroun ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre de recherches du Cyclotron
Balteau, Evelyne ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre de recherches du cyclotron
Bahri, Mohamed Ali ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre de recherches du cyclotron
Phillips, Christophe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron
Salmon, Eric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron et Département des Sciences cliniques > Neuroimagerie des troubles de la mémoire et révalid. cogn.
Language :
English
Title :
Valuing One's Self: Medial Prefrontal Involvement in Epistemic and Emotive Investments in Self-views.
Publication date :
2012
Journal title :
Cerebral Cortex
ISSN :
1047-3211
eISSN :
1460-2199
Publisher :
Oxford University Press, Cary, United States - North Carolina
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