Brains creating stories of selves: the neural basis of autobiographical reasoning

D’Argembeau, Arnaud; Cassol, Héléna; Phillips, Christophe; Balteau, Evelyne; Salmon, Eric; Linden, Martial Van der

doi:10.1093/scan/nst028

Cited by 78 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Brain activation in the left AG, a part of the left inferior parietal lobe, has been reported in various studies exploring the neurobiological mechanisms of empathy, identification processing (Apperly, Samson, Chiavarino, & Humphreys, 2004; Regenbogen et al., 2012, 2013), and autobiographical reasoning (D’Argembeau et al., 2013; Kim, 2012). Empathy can be defined as the ability to understand the emotional state of others, and is rooted in the ability to emotionally identify oneself with others (Gallese, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Neural Basis of Avatar Identification in Pathological Internet Gamers and of Self-Reflection in Pathological Social Network Users

Leménager¹,

Dieter²,

Hill³

et al. 2016

Journal of Behavioral Addictions

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Background and aimsInternet gaming addiction appears to be related to self-concept deficits and increased angular gyrus (AG)-related identification with one’s avatar. For increased social network use, a few existing studies suggest striatal-related positive social feedback as an underlying factor. However, whether an impaired self-concept and its reward-based compensation through the online presentation of an idealized version of the self are related to pathological social network use has not been investigated yet. We aimed to compare different stages of pathological Internet game and social network use to explore the neural basis of avatar and self-identification in addictive use.MethodsAbout 19 pathological Internet gamers, 19 pathological social network users, and 19 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a self-retrieval paradigm, asking participants to rate the degree to which various self-concept-related characteristics described their self, ideal, and avatar. Self-concept-related characteristics were also psychometrically assessed.ResultsPsychometric testing indicated that pathological Internet gamers exhibited higher self-concept deficits generally, whereas pathological social network users exhibit deficits in emotion regulation only. We observed left AG hyperactivations in Internet gamers during avatar reflection and a correlation with symptom severity. Striatal hypoactivations during self-reflection (vs. ideal reflection) were observed in social network users and were correlated with symptom severity.Discussion and conclusionInternet gaming addiction appears to be linked to increased identification with one’s avatar, evidenced by high left AG activations in pathological Internet gamers. Addiction to social networks seems to be characterized by emotion regulation deficits, reflected by reduced striatal activation during self-reflection compared to during ideal reflection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Neural Basis of Avatar Identification in Pathological Internet Gamers and of Self-Reflection in Pathological Social Network Users

Leménager¹,

Dieter²,

Hill³

et al. 2016

Journal of Behavioral Addictions

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“…In one study, we found that such individual differences modulate the activity of the vMPFC when people reflect on significant personal experiences (D’Argembeau et al, in press). Participants were asked to approach a set of personally significant memories in two different ways: on some trials, they remembered the concrete content of the events (e.g., what happened, where, when, with whom, and so on), whereas on other trials they reflected on the broader meaning and implications of their memories for the self (e.g., they thought about what the event says about their personality, how they have changed following this event, what they have learned, and so on).…”

Section: What Is the Role Of The Vmpfc In Self-processing?mentioning

confidence: 97%

On the Role of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Self-Processing: The Valuation Hypothesis

D’Argembeau¹

2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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With the development of functional neuroimaging, important progress has been made in identifying the brain regions involved in self-related processing. One of the most consistent findings has been that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) is activated when people contemplate various aspects of themselves and their life, such their traits, experiences, preferences, abilities, and goals. Recent evidence suggests that this region may not support the act of self-reflection per se, but its precise function in self-processing remains unclear. In this article, I examine the hypothesis that the vMPFC may contribute to assign personal value or significance to self-related contents: stimuli and mental representations that refer or relate to the self tend to be assigned unique value or significance, and the function of the vMPFC may precisely be to evaluate or represent such significance. Although relatively few studies to date have directly tested this hypothesis, several lines of evidence converge to suggest that vMPFC activity during self-processing depends on the personal significance of self-related contents. First, increasing psychological distance from self-representations leads to decreased activation in the vMPFC. Second, the magnitude of vMPFC activation increases linearly with the personal importance attributed to self-representations. Third, the activity of the vMPFC is modulated by individual differences in the interest placed on self-reflection. Finally, the evidence shows that the vMPFC responds to outer aspects of self that have high personal value, such as possessions and close others. By assigning personal value to self-related contents, the vMPFC may play an important role in the construction, stabilization, and modification of self-representations, and ultimately in guiding our choices and decisions.

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“…We applied small-volume correction to focus on RTPJ within a 6-mm sphere centered at the mean coordinates (x = 46, y = −63, z = 23), which were calculated from previous studies examining RTPJ activity when taking another's perspective for altruistic helping (35,44,45) or shifting attention away from the here-and-now to imagine one's own experience at a different time (46)(47)(48)(49). The mean coordinates were situated in the canonical social TPJ identified by a recent comprehensive metaanalysis (39).…”

Section: Experiments 2 (Fmri Experiment)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rawlsian maximin rule operates as a common cognitive anchor in distributive justice and risky decisions

Kameda

Inukai

Higuchi

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Distributive justice concerns the moral principles by which we seek to allocate resources fairly among diverse members of a society. Although the concept of fair allocation is one of the fundamental building blocks for societies, there is no clear consensus on how to achieve "socially just" allocations. Here, we examine neurocognitive commonalities of distributive judgments and risky decisions. We explore the hypothesis that people's allocation decisions for others are closely related to economic decisions for oneself at behavioral, cognitive, and neural levels, via a concern about the minimum, worst-off position. In a series of experiments using attention-monitoring and brain-imaging techniques, we investigated this "maximin" concern (maximizing the minimum possible payoff) via responses in two seemingly disparate tasks: third-party distribution of rewards for others, and choosing gambles for self. The experiments revealed three robust results: (i) participants' distributive choices closely matched their risk preferences-"Rawlsians," who maximized the worst-off position in distributions for others, avoided riskier gambles for themselves, whereas "utilitarians," who favored the largesttotal distributions, preferred riskier but more profitable gambles; (ii) across such individual choice preferences, however, participants generally showed the greatest spontaneous attention to information about the worst possible outcomes in both tasks; and (iii) this robust concern about the minimum outcomes was correlated with activation of the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ), the region associated with perspective taking. The results provide convergent evidence that social distribution for others is psychologically linked to risky decision making for self, drawing on common cognitive-neural processes with spontaneous perspective taking of the worst-off position.distributive justice | risky decisions | maximin rule | perspective taking | right temporoparietal junction T he "Occupy Wall Street" protests in New York garnered worldwide attention, highlighting growing concerns about wealth inequality. A remarkable feature of the protests was that not only the financially disadvantaged but middle-class citizens, who were relatively wealthy in the current economy, also joined the movement. Traditional economic models that assume utility only for self-related outcomes (1, 2) fail to explain such a mass phenomenon.However, there is one important psychological dimension that seems to characterize the wide civic involvement in the movement yet has been unaddressed in cognitive and social neuroscienceconcern about the lowest, worst-off outcomes. Notice that, in the "Occupy" protests, people were not just concerned about the inequality (variance) of wealth distribution generally, but specifically advocated increasing the incomes of society's most disadvantaged. John Rawls, an eminent modern social philosopher, similarly argued that the benefit to the least well-off should be maximized according to the "maximin principle" (maximizing th...

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Brains creating stories of selves: the neural basis of autobiographical reasoning

Cited by 78 publications

References 58 publications

Exploring the Neural Basis of Avatar Identification in Pathological Internet Gamers and of Self-Reflection in Pathological Social Network Users

Exploring the Neural Basis of Avatar Identification in Pathological Internet Gamers and of Self-Reflection in Pathological Social Network Users

On the Role of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Self-Processing: The Valuation Hypothesis

Rawlsian maximin rule operates as a common cognitive anchor in distributive justice and risky decisions

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