Self-Reference during Explicit Memory Retrieval: An Event-Related Potential Analysis

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 18; no. 8; pp. 672 - 677
• Main Authors: Magno, Elena, Allan, Kevin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.08.2007; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Autobiographical memory; Awareness - physiology; Behavioral neuroscience; Brain; Brain - physiology; Circuits; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Consciousness; Cues; Electroencephalography - methods; Electrophysiology; Event-related potentials; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Explicit memory; Friends - psychology; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Information retrieval; Knowledge; Locus of control; Magnetic resonance imaging; Memory; Memory - physiology; Memory recall; Neuropsychology; Panic attacks; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychological factors; Psychology; Quadrants; Research Reports; Retrieval; Scalp; Self; Self Concept; Self image; Self referential statements; Self-perception; Social psychology; Spiders; Students - psychology; Task Performance and Analysis; Time use; Verbal Behavior - physiology
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01957.x

Is there a specific neurocognitive system underlying the subjective sense of having a unitary continuous self across time? If so, it should be possible to isolate functions involved in the sense of self from those supporting mental activities that the self is currently engaged in. We report a study of real-time noninvasive recordings of the brain's electrical activity (event-related potentials, ERPs). We found a common neural signature that is associated with self-referential processing regardless of whether subjects are retrieving general knowledge (noetic awareness) or reexperiencing past episodes (autonoetic awareness). These ERP data are consistent with models of autobiographical memory that postulate a single locus of control over explicit memory for various kinds of self-related information. The temporal properties and scalp distribution of this novel self-reference ERP effect also suggest that it may be a neurophysiological correlate of self-related activation in medial prefrontal and parietal neocortical circuits identified in functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments.