Neuroimaging Self-Esteem: A fMRI study of Individual Differences in Women.

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Mar 7;

Authors: Frewen PA, Lundberg E, Brimson-Théberge M, Théberge J

Abstract
Although neuroimaging studies strongly implicate the medial prefrontal cortex (ventral and dorsal), cingulate gyrus (anterior and posterior), precuneus, and temporoparietal cortex in mediating self-referential processing (SRP), little is known about the neural bases mediating individual differences in valenced SRP, that is, processes intrinsic to self-esteem. This study investigated the neural correlates of experimentally engendered valenced SRP via the Visual-Verbal Self-Other Referential Processing (VV-SORP-T) in 20 women with fMRI. Participants viewed pictures of themselves or unknown other women during separate trials while covertly rehearsing "I am" or "She is", followed by reading valenced trait adjectives, thus variably associating the self/other with positivity/negativity. Response within dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and left temporoparietal cortex varied with individual differences in both pre-task rated self-descriptiveness of the words, as well as task-induced affective responses. Results are discussed as they relate to a social cognitive and affective neuroscience view of self-esteem.

PMID: 22403154 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]