Yaoi Ken, Osaka Mariko, Osaka Naoyuki
Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
J Physiol Paris. 2013 Dec;107(6):517-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2013.09.002. Epub 2013 Oct 11.
A number of recent neuroimaging studies using self referential tasks have investigated whether self referential processing depends on a unique neural basis that operates specifically in the medial prefrontal cortex. However, these studies have provided contradictory results despite the use of similar methodologies. We hypothesized that these discrepancies are partially related to the task-difficulty that presents dissociations reaction times in the self- and other-referential tasks. We therefore measured brain activity during self and other referential tasks to determine if such activity can be dissociated according to the reaction times (fast versus slow) for the trait words. Activation differed across self and other only in the slow word condition. The self referential condition with slow reaction time produced greater activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, whereas the other referential condition with slow reaction time produced activation of the middle temporal gyrus. Results suggested that the task-difficulty might affect whether or not brain activities within MPFC would be dissociated between self- and other-referential processing.
近期一些使用自我参照任务的神经影像学研究探讨了自我参照加工是否依赖于内侧前额叶皮质中专门运作的独特神经基础。然而，尽管采用了相似的方法，这些研究却得出了相互矛盾的结果。我们推测，这些差异部分与任务难度有关，任务难度在自我参照和他人参照任务中表现出反应时间的分离。因此，我们测量了自我参照和他人参照任务期间的大脑活动，以确定这种活动是否可以根据特质词的反应时间（快与慢）进行区分。仅在慢词条件下，自我参照和他人参照的激活情况有所不同。反应时间慢的自我参照条件在腹内侧前额叶皮质产生了更大的激活，而反应时间慢的他人参照条件则激活了颞中回。结果表明，任务难度可能会影响内侧前额叶皮质内的大脑活动在自我参照和他人参照加工之间是否会出现分离。
