Department of Psychiatry/Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Psychiatry Res. 2011 Nov 30;194(2):130-40. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.07.002. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
The experience of self is unique and pivotal to clinically relevant cognitive and emotional functions. However, well-controlled data on specialized brain regions and functional networks underlying the experience of self remain limited. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated neural activity and connectivity specific to processing one's own face in healthy women by examining neural responses to the pictures of the subjects' own faces in contrast to faces of their own mothers, female friends and strangers during passive viewing, emotional and self-relevance evaluations. The processing of one's own face in comparison to processing of familiar faces revealed significant activity in right anterior insula (AI) and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and less activity in right posterior cingulate/precuneus (PCC/PCu) across all tasks. Further, the seed-based correlation analysis of right AI, and left IPL, showed differential functional networks in self and familiar faces contrasts. There were no differences in valence and saliency ratings between self and familiar others. Our preliminary results suggest that the self-experience cued by self-face is processed predominantly by brain regions and related networks that link interoceptive feelings and sense of body ownership to self-awareness and less by regions of higher order functioning such as autobiographical memories.
自我体验是独特的，对临床相关的认知和情感功能至关重要。然而，关于自我体验所涉及的特定大脑区域和功能网络的受控良好的数据仍然有限。本项功能磁共振成像研究通过考察被试在被动观看、情绪和自我相关性评估时对自身面孔图片的神经反应，调查了健康女性自身面孔加工的神经活动和连接特异性。与加工熟悉面孔相比，自身面孔的加工在右侧前岛叶（AI）和左侧下顶叶（IPL）中引起显著的活动，而在右侧后扣带回/楔前叶（PCC/PCu）中活动减少，在所有任务中均如此。此外，基于右侧 AI 和左侧 IPL 的种子相关分析显示，自我面孔和熟悉面孔对比中的功能网络存在差异。自我和熟悉他人的效价和突显评分没有差异。我们的初步结果表明，自我面孔提示的自我体验主要由将内脏感觉和身体所有权与自我意识联系起来的大脑区域和相关网络进行加工，而不是由自传体记忆等高级功能区域进行加工。
