Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, PR China.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2010 Jun;5(2-3):324-31. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq016. Epub 2010 Mar 2.
Previous transcultural neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural substrates of self-reflection can be shaped by different cultures. There are few studies, however, on the neural activity of self-reflection where religion is viewed as a form of cultural expression. The present study examined the self-processing of two Chinese ethnic groups (Han and Tibetan) to investigate the significant role of religion on the functional anatomy of self-representation. We replicated the previous results in Han participants with the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and left anterior cingulate cortex showing stronger activation in self-processing when compared with other-processing conditions. However, no typical self-reference pattern was identified in Tibetan participants on behavioral or neural levels. This could be explained by the minimal subjective sense of 'I-ness' in Tibetan Buddhists. Our findings lend support to the presumed role of culture and religion in shaping the neural substrate of self.
先前的跨文化神经影像学研究表明，自我反思的神经基础可以受到不同文化的影响。然而，关于将宗教视为文化表达形式的自我反思神经活动的研究较少。本研究通过对两个中国少数民族群体（汉族和藏族）的自我加工进行研究，探讨了宗教对自我表现的功能解剖结构的重要作用。我们在汉族参与者中复制了之前的结果，腹内侧前额叶皮层和左前扣带回皮层在自我加工时比其他加工条件表现出更强的激活。然而，藏族参与者在行为或神经水平上都没有出现典型的自我参照模式。这可以用藏传佛教徒中最小的“自我意识”来解释。我们的发现支持了文化和宗教在塑造自我神经基础方面的假定作用。
