Repetition suppression of ventromedial prefrontal activity during judgments of self and others.

ABSTRACT: One useful strategy for inferring others' mental states (i.e., mentalizing) may be to use one's own thoughts, feelings, and desires as a proxy for those of other people. Such self-referential accounts of social cognition are supported by recent neuroimaging observations that a single brain region, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC), is engaged both by tasks that require introspections about self and by tasks that require inferences about the minds of others perceived to be similar to self. To test whether people automatically refer to their own mental states when considering those of a similar other, we examined repetition-related suppression of vMPFC response during self-reflections that followed either an initial reflection about self or a judgment of another person. Consistent with

SUBMITTER: Jenkins AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2393803 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature