Neural correlates of the self-reference effect: evidence from evaluation and recognition processes

Abstract

The self-reference effect (SRE) is defined as better recall or recognition performance when the memorized materials refer to the self. Recently, a number of neuroimaging studies using self-referential and other-referential tasks have reported that self- and other-referential judgments basically show greater activation in common brain regions, specifically in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) when compared with nonmentalizing judgments, but that a ventral-to-dorsal gradient in MPFC emerges from a direct comparison between self- and other-judgments. However, most of these previous studies could not provide an adequate explanation for the neural basis of SRE because they did not directly compare brain activation for recognition/recall of the words referenced to the self with another person. Here, we used an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that measured brain activity during processing of references to the self and another, and for recognition of self and other referenced words. Results from the fMRI evaluation task indicated greater activation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) in the self-referential condition. While in the recognition task, VMPFC, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and bilateral angular gyrus (AG) showed greater activation when participants correctly recognized self-referenced words versus other-referenced words. These data provide evidence that the self-referenced words evoked greater activation in the self-related region (VMPFC) and memory-related regions (PCC and AG) relative to another person in the retrieval phase, and that the words remained as a stronger memory trace that supports recognition.

Emerging Directions in Emotional Episodic Memory

“…More specifically, whereas biologically emotional stimuli are processed relatively more automatically by the involvement of and interaction between the AMY and the visual cortex, memory for socially emotional stimuli may also depend on more elaborative processes involving the interaction between the AMY and the medial PFC ( Sakaki et al, 2012 ). Consistent with this idea, other investigations of social emotional memory have highlighted the involvement of the AMY and the medial/orbital PFC in a range of complex social cognitive functions, including detecting relevant social cues in the external environment, monitoring and interpreting internal emotional reactions, or processing subjective valuation of stimuli ( Somerville et al, 2006 ; Harvey et al, 2007 ; Botzung et al, 2010a ; Gilron and Gutchess, 2012 ; Tsukiura, 2012 ; Yaoi et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Besides the AMY, the involvement of medial/orbital PFC regions has also been implicated in encoding social relevance ( Harvey et al, 2007 ; Vrtička et al, 2012 ; Gutchess et al, 2015 ; see also Meyer and Lieberman, 2012 ; Meyer et al, 2015 ). For example, increased activity in the medial PFC was related to enhanced memory for the information encoded with reference to oneself – i.e., the self-reference effect ( Macrae et al, 2004 ; Yaoi et al, 2015 ) – and also to encoding of impressions of other people based on face-behavior associations ( Mitchell et al, 2004 ; Gilron and Gutchess, 2012 ; Cassidy et al, 2013 ). In addition, activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was related to encoding of faces signaling positive social cues ( Tsukiura and Cabeza, 2008 , 2011a , b ).…”

Self‐referential processing and emotion context insensitivity in major depressive disorder

“…This phenomenon has been termed “the self‐reference effect”. The self‐reference effect has been evidenced through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques, which show that self‐relevant stimuli specifically evoke increased activation of the self‐related region of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex as well as the memory associated brain regions such as the posterior cingulate cortex and bilateral angular gyrus (Yaoi, Osaka, & Osaka, 2015).…”

Dissociable Roles Within the Social Brain for Self–Other Processing: A HD-tDCS Study

“…The self-reference effect (SRE) in episodic memory task manipulates self and other processes without relying on mental rotation into another location or the requirement for online control of co-activated self and F o r P e e r R e v i e w other representations (Santiesteban et al, 2012). Several studies have highlighted a a selfother gradient from ventral to dorsal mPFC relevant across a number of cognitive domains (D'Argembeau et al, 2007;Denny, Kober, Wager, & Ochsner, 2012;Fossati et al, 2003;Mitchell, Macrae, & Banaji, 2006;Seid-Fatemi & Tobler, 2015;Yaoi, Osaka, & Osaka, 2015). For example, a meta-analysis of self and other-referential processes using fMRI identified the dmPFC as the key region for other-related processes with less evidence for TPJ involvement (Denny et al, 2012).…”