Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Soc Neurosci. 2010;5(4):335-50. doi: 10.1080/17470911003615997. Epub 2009 Feb 15.
In everyday life causal attribution is important in order to structure the complex world, provide explanations for events and to understand why our environment interacts with us in a particular way. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 30 healthy subjects to separate the neural correlates of self vs. external responsibility for social events and explore the neural basis of self-serving attributions (internal attributions of positive events and external attributions of negative events). We presented short sentences describing positive and negative social events and asked participants to imagine the event, to decide the main cause and assign it to one of the categories (internal vs. external). FMRI data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 factorial design with the factors emotional valence and attribution. Internal compared to external attribution revealed activations along the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). The reverse contrast showed a left lateralized network mainly involving the TPJ, the precuneus and the superior/medial frontal gyrus. These results confirmed the involvement of a fronto-temporoparietal network in differentiating self and external responsibility. Analysis of the self-serving bias yielded activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate and in the dorsal striatum, suggesting a rewarding value of these attributions.
在日常生活中，因果归因对于组织复杂的世界、解释事件以及理解为什么我们的环境以特定的方式与我们相互作用非常重要。本研究使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 对 30 名健康受试者进行了研究，以分离自我与外部对社会事件的责任的神经相关性，并探讨自利归因（积极事件的内部归因和消极事件的外部归因）的神经基础。我们呈现了描述积极和消极社会事件的短句子，并要求参与者想象事件，决定主要原因，并将其分配到一个类别（内部或外部）。使用因素情感效价和归因的 2 x 2 因子设计分析 fMRI 数据。与外部归因相比，内部归因显示出右侧颞顶联合处 (TPJ) 的激活。相反的对比显示出一个主要涉及 TPJ、顶下小叶和额上/内侧额回的左侧偏侧网络。这些结果证实了额颞顶联合网络在区分自我和外部责任中的作用。自利偏差的分析在背侧前扣带和背侧纹状体中产生了激活，表明这些归因具有奖励价值。
