The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing

Self-referential processing is defined as the process by which a person becomes aware that specific contents are related to his or her own self. Cortical midline structures, such as dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, and regions such as inferior frontal cortex, insula and temporal pole have been i...

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Main Authors: Harma eMeffert, Laura eBlanken, Karina S. Blair, Stuart F. White, James R. Blair
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00046/full
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spelling doaj-a3b0b5991f784b71a2535487a0038b722020-11-25T02:01:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612013-02-01710.3389/fnhum.2013.0004638460The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processingHarma eMeffert0Laura eBlanken1Karina S. Blair2Stuart F. White3James R. Blair4National Institutes of HealthErasmus MC – Sophia Children’s HospitalNational Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthSelf-referential processing is defined as the process by which a person becomes aware that specific contents are related to his or her own self. Cortical midline structures, such as dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, and regions such as inferior frontal cortex, insula and temporal pole have been implicated in self-referential processing. However, the specific contribution of each of these areas is still largely unknown. More particularly, not many studies have examined the influence of valence and decision making difficulty on regions involved in self-referential processing. In this study, participants evaluated how well personality traits, differing in valence and decision difficulty, described themselves or president Obama. In line with predictions, ventral, rostral and dorsal parts of medial prefrontal cortex showed greater activity when participants judged traits about themselves relative to judging traits about President Obama. However, none of these regions showed significant modulation by trait valence. Increasing trait decision difficulty was associated with increased activity within dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral anterior insula. However, there was very minimal overlap (6/119 voxels, i.e. 5%) of the regions of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex implicated in self-referential processing and those implicated in trait decision difficulty. The results are interpreted within current accounts of self-referential processing.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00046/fullAffectDecision MakingemotionfMRIself-referential processing
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Harma eMeffert
Laura eBlanken
Karina S. Blair
Stuart F. White
James R. Blair
spellingShingle Harma eMeffert
Laura eBlanken
Karina S. Blair
Stuart F. White
James R. Blair
The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Affect
Decision Making
emotion
fMRI
self-referential processing
author_facet Harma eMeffert
Laura eBlanken
Karina S. Blair
Stuart F. White
James R. Blair
author_sort Harma eMeffert
title The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
title_short The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
title_full The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
title_fullStr The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
title_full_unstemmed The influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
title_sort influence of valence and decision difficulty on self-referential processing
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
issn 1662-5161
publishDate 2013-02-01
description Self-referential processing is defined as the process by which a person becomes aware that specific contents are related to his or her own self. Cortical midline structures, such as dorsal and medial prefrontal cortex, and regions such as inferior frontal cortex, insula and temporal pole have been implicated in self-referential processing. However, the specific contribution of each of these areas is still largely unknown. More particularly, not many studies have examined the influence of valence and decision making difficulty on regions involved in self-referential processing. In this study, participants evaluated how well personality traits, differing in valence and decision difficulty, described themselves or president Obama. In line with predictions, ventral, rostral and dorsal parts of medial prefrontal cortex showed greater activity when participants judged traits about themselves relative to judging traits about President Obama. However, none of these regions showed significant modulation by trait valence. Increasing trait decision difficulty was associated with increased activity within dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral anterior insula. However, there was very minimal overlap (6/119 voxels, i.e. 5%) of the regions of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex implicated in self-referential processing and those implicated in trait decision difficulty. The results are interpreted within current accounts of self-referential processing.
topic Affect
Decision Making
emotion
fMRI
self-referential processing
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00046/full
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