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The neural basis of self-knowledge

The neural basis of self-knowledge. Arnaud D’Argembeau University of Liège , Belgium. Workshop on Social Neuroscience Gent, 27 June 2013. γνῶθι σεαυτόν (« Know thyself  »). Outline. What is the self? Neural basis of self-knowledge Semantic self-knowledge Episodic self-knowledge

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The neural basis of self-knowledge

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  1. The neural basis of self-knowledge Arnaud D’Argembeau University of Liège, Belgium Workshop on Social Neuroscience Gent, 27 June 2013

  2. γνῶθισεαυτόν (« Know thyself »)

  3. Outline • What is the self? • Neural basis of self-knowledge • Semantic self-knowledge • Episodic self-knowledge • Default mode network • What is the role of the MPFC? • Self-enhancement • Self-knowledge and psychopathology

  4. What do we mean by “self”? Self Semantic self-representations Self-as-subject Self-as-object • “me” (James) • Autobiographical self (Damasio) • Narrative self (Gallagher) • … • “I” (James) • Core self (Damasio) • Minimal self (Gallagher) • … Episodic self-representations

  5. What do we mean by “self”? • Semantic self-knowledge: a set of abstractrepresentations of one’s personal attributes (e.g., traits, preferences, abilities, goals, social roles) • Episodic self-knowledge: the ability to mentally relive past experiences and to project oneself into possible futures (“mental time travel”) • These two forms of self-knowledge are dissociable • Patients with amnesia (e.g., Klein et al., 2002) • Priming experiments in healthy individuals (e.g., Klein & Loftus, 1993)

  6. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge Thinking about one’s traits Kelley et al. (2002) J CognNeurosci

  7. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge • Johnson et al. (2002). Brain • Self‐evaluation in the domains of mood, social interactions, cognitive and physical abilities (e.g., “I get angry easily”, “I often forget things”) • Decisions about statements of factual knowledge (e.g., “you need water to live”)

  8. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge Meta-analyses of trait judgments about the self 25 PET or fMRIstudies 17 PET or fMRIstudies Van der Meer et al. (2010) NeurosciBiobehavRev Murray et al. (2012) NeurosciBiobehavRev

  9. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge MPFC activity correlates with degrees of self-descriptiveness Moran et al. (2006) J CognNeurosci

  10. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge What do othersthink about me? You are sociable According to David, heis clumsy You are sociable According to David, you are clumsy You are sociable David is clumsy You are sociable You are clumsy D’Argembeau et al. (2007) J CognNeurosci

  11. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge MPFC subserves diverse forms of self-reflection Jenkins & Mitchell (2011), Social Neuroscience

  12. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge Ruby et al. (2009) Neurobiology of Aging

  13. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge MPFC damage abolishes the self-referenceeffect • Task: traits judgments • Self (‘does this trait describe you?’) • Other (‘does this trait describe Oprah Winfrey?’) • Case (‘is the trait capitalized?’) • Recognition memory task => SRE (hits self – hits other) Philippi et al. (2012) J cognNeurosci

  14. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge • Preserved self-concept in patient R: • Self-consciousnessscalerevised • Positivitybias • Big Five inventory (consistency over time) • Metacognition and introspective abilities • BUT self-conceptions are ratherrigid and not fullyupdated

  15. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge

  16. Neural correlates of semantic self-knowledge Role of the MPFC in semantic self-knowledge • The MPFC is more active when thinking about one’s traits compared to the traits of others • When thinking about one’s traits, the degree of MPFC activity correlates with the self-descriptiveness of the traits • The MPFC is active when processing different kinds of semantic self-knowledge (e.g., traits, physical abilities, how we are seen by others) • Damage to the MPFC impairs some aspects of semantic self-knowledge

  17. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Mental time travel

  18. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Amnesia: The case of K. C. (Tulving, 1985) Tulving: “What will you be doing tomorrow?” (There is a 15-second pause) K.C.: smiles faintly, then says, “I don’t know” Tulving: “Do you remember the question?” K.C.: “About what I’ll be doing tomorrow?” Tulving: “Yes. How would you describe your state of mind when you try to think about it?” (A 5-second pause) K.C.: “Blank, I guess”

  19. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Developmental research Episodic memory and future thinking emerge at the same time, between 3 and 5 years of age Suddendorf & Busby (2005)

  20. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Phenomenological characteristics Experimental manipulations of valence and temporal distance have similar effects on past and future event representations Ratings for sensory details Ratings for sensory details Temporal distance Affective valence D’Argembeau & Van der Linden (2004) Consciousness & Cognition

  21. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Typical task: remembering/imagining specific events (i.e., unique events that occur in a specific place and time) in response to cue words (e.g., beach)

  22. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Meta-analysis of autobiographicalmemorystudies Svoboda et al. (2006) Neuropsychologia

  23. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Remembering past events and imagining future events rely on common neural substrates Addis et al. (2007) Neuropsychologia

  24. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Szpunaret al. (2007) PNAS

  25. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Cabeza & St Jacques (2007)

  26. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Neural correlates of imagining self-relevant future events • Personally-relevant future events: future events related to personal goals (Personal Projects Inventory; Little, 1983; e.g. getting married next summer) • Non-personally-relevant future events: future events that are plausible but not part of personal goals (e.g. going to the zoo next summer) • Routine activities (e.g. taking a shower)

  27. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge fMRI session Personal future Getting married next summer Identify the event Max. 5 s Imagine the event (with eyes closed) Eyes closed 15 s + jitter (4 - 12 s) Daily routine Taking a shower D’Argembeau et al. (2010) J CognNeurosci

  28. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Personally-relevant future events > routine activities Non-personally-relevant future events > routine activities D’Argembeau et al. (2010) J CognNeurosci

  29. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge Personally-relevant future events > non-personally-relevant future events D’Argembeau et al. (2010) J CognNeurosci

  30. Neural correlates of episodic self-knowledge x = -4 y = 56 Imagining personally-relevant future events Thinking about one’s traits Overlap D’Argembeau et al. (2010) J CognNeurosci

  31. Interim conclusion • Semantic self-knowledge • The MPFC is the brain area that is most commonly activated in fMRI studies • Damage to the MPFC is associated with some impairments in self-representation • Episodic self-knowledge • Involve multiple brain regions • MPFC is associated with self-relevance => Although semantic and episodic forms of self-knowledge are dissociable, they both involve the MPFC

  32. DMN and self-related thought The MPFC typically shows decreasedactivity relative to baseline Kelley et al. (2002) J CognNeurosci Moran et al. (2006) J CognNeurosci D’Argembeau et al. (2010) J CognNeurosci

  33. DMN and self-related thought Default mode network Gusnard & Raichle (2001) Nature Reviews Neuroscience

  34. DMN and self-related thought What is going on during the “resting state”? • Daydreaming, mind-wandering • Remembering the past, imagining the future • Attending to bodily sensations and external stimuli • …

  35. DMN and self-related thought • PET study • Resting state • Explicit self-reflection • Thinking about others • Thinking about social issues • In the four conditions, no stimuli were presented and no motor response was required during the scans Conjunctionanalysisbetweenresting state and self-reflection (Self – Other) AND (Rest – Society) Correlationwithamount of self-referentialthoughts D’Argembeau et al. (2005) NeuroImage

  36. DMN and self-related thought Mind-wandering and self-related thought Stawarczyk, Majerus, Van der Linden, & D’Argembeau (2011) PLoS ONE

  37. What is the function of the MPFC? • Not self-specific • Familiarity (Gilihan & Farah, 2005) • Memory retrieval and evaluation processes (Legrand & Ruby, 2009) • Meta-cognition, introspection, and mentalizing(e.g., Amodio& Frith, 2006)

  38. What is the function of the MPFC? Is the involvement of MPFC self-specific? Thinking about one’s traits vs. traits of other people Legrand & Ruby (2009) Psychological Bulletin BUT mixing of different aspects of self (trait judgments, sense of agency, recognition of one’sown face, name, etc.)

  39. What is the function of the MPFC? Is the involvement of MPFC self-specific? Thinking about one’s traits vs. traits of other people Van der Meer et al. (2010) NeurosciBiobehavRev Murray et al. (2012) NeurosciBiobehavRev

  40. What is the function of the MPFC? • Review of the social neuroscience literature (Lieberman, 2010) • Mentalizing: MPFC is activated in 33% of studies; dorsal MPFC is activated in 91% of studies • Self-knowledge: MPFC is activated in 94% of studies; dorsal MPFC is activated in 53% of studies

  41. What is the function of the MPFC? Van Overwalle (2009), HBM

  42. What is the function of the MPFC? What about close others? Heatherton et al. (2006), SCAN Vanderwal et al. (2008), NeuroImage

  43. What is the function of the MPFC? • Close others are often treated as “part of the self” (e.g., Aaron et al., 2004) • Perhaps the difference in MPFC activity for self vs. close othersdepends on the degree to which the otherisincluded in one’ssense of self

  44. What is the function of the MPFC? Cultural differences Self > mother Self > non-close other Zhu et al. (2007) NeuroImage

  45. What is the function of the MPFC? MPFC activity for self vs. othercorrelateswith the degree of self-otheroverlap(as assessed by the correlationbetween self-judgments and judgments about one’s best friend) Benoit et al. (2010) NeuroImage

  46. What is the function of the MPFC? Benoit et al. (2010) NeuroImage

  47. What is the function of the MPFC? Activity in the MPFC atstudycorrelateswithsubsequentmemory performance Benoit et al. (2010) NeuroImage

  48. What is the function of the MPFC? • Not self-specific • Familiarity (Gilihan & Farah, 2005) • Memory retrieval and evaluation processes (Legrand & Ruby, 2009) • Meta-cognition, introspection, and mentalizing(e.g., Amodio& Frith, 2006)

  49. What is the function of the MPFC? Does the MPFC subservememoryretrieval and evaluationprocesses? • Cognitive operations involved in trait self-judgments according to Legrand & Ruby (2009) • Consideration of the question (does the trait apply to you?) • Perception and integration of the stimulus (e.g., shyness) • Recall of relevant situations (e.g., I blushed the last time John said something embarrassing to me, even thought I usually do not blush easily) • Comparison or association of these recalled events with each other, which leads to a • Generalization or the formulation of probalistic rule (e.g., most of the time I am confident and do not blush in embarrassing situations), and • Application of the rule, which allows a conclusion to be drawn (e.g., I am not shy) • BUT • Trait judgments do not involve the recall of past events (cf. studies by Klein and colleagues) • Typically, trait judgments are made within 2 seconds, whereas the recall of past events takes 3-10 seconds

  50. What is the function of the MPFC? Does MPFC subserveevaluationprocesses? • Passive viewing of words • Self-related (e.g., hometown, initials; n = 50, white font) • Neutral (n = 400, non-self-relatedwords in white font) • Perceptualoddball (n = 50, non-self-relatedwords in green font) Moran et al. (2009), Social Neuroscience

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