Moran J M, Macrae C N, Heatherton T F, Wyland C L, Kelley W M
Dartmouth College, USA.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2006 Sep;18(9):1586-94. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.9.1586.
This study examines whether the cognitive and affective components of self-reflection can be dissociated using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using a simple paradigm in which subjects judged the personal relevance of personality characteristics that were either favorable (e.g., "honest") or unfavorable (e.g., "lazy", we found that distinct neural circuits in adjacent regions of the prefrontal cortex subserve cognitive and emotional aspects of self-reflection. The medial prefrontal cortex responded only to material that was self-descriptive, and this did not differ as a function of the valence of the trait. When material was judged to be self-relevant, the valence of the material was resolved in an adjacent region of ventral anterior cingulate. The nature of self is one of the most enduring questions in science, and researchers are now beginning to be able to decompose the neural operations that give rise to a unitary sense of self.
本研究探讨了是否可以使用功能磁共振成像来分离自我反思的认知和情感成分。采用一种简单的范式，让受试者判断有利（如“诚实”）或不利（如“懒惰”）的人格特征与自身的相关性，我们发现前额叶皮层相邻区域中不同的神经回路分别负责自我反思的认知和情感方面。内侧前额叶皮层仅对自我描述性的材料做出反应，并且这并不因特质的效价而有所不同。当材料被判断为与自我相关时，材料的效价在腹侧前扣带回的相邻区域得到分辨。自我的本质是科学中最持久的问题之一，研究人员现在开始能够分解产生单一自我感的神经操作。
