人类在社会交往中加工两种信息，即关于他人和关于自我的信息。以往神经科学研究发现，人类大脑颞叶、顶叶和额叶加工他人信息（如意图等）的神经活动不受感觉通道的影响，对于视觉和听觉通道输入的关于他人的信息由相似的神经加工机制完成。韩世辉教授和其博士研究生马燚娜使用功能磁共振技术，结合心理学自我人格特征判断的实验范式，发现人类大脑内侧前额叶加工自我人格特征的神经活动受感觉通道的影响，这一脑区在被试根据视觉刺激做自我人格判断时，其活动显著增强，而根据听觉刺激做自我人格判断时没有显著变化，提示大脑内侧前额叶参与自我加工的神经活动具有感觉通道特异性。他们进一步的实验还发现，先天性盲人在根据听觉刺激做自我人格判断时，大脑内侧前额叶显著增强，这表明大脑内侧前额叶参与自我加工的神经活动具有可塑性，在缺乏视觉信息的条件下由听觉信息主导。这些发现一方面对理解自我概念的脑机制提供了重要的神经科学数据，另一方面也证明了大脑前额叶与社会认知加工有关的神经活动具有依赖感觉信息输入的可塑性。这些研究结果发表在2011年第1期神经科学杂志BRAIN上。该研究受国家科技部973项目和国家基金委重点项目资助。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Brain. 2011 Jan;134(Pt 1):235-46. Epub 2010 Nov 4.
Neural representation of self-concept in sighted and congenitally blind adults.
Ma Y, Han S.
Department of Psychology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China. shan@pku.edu.cn.
Abstract
The functional organization of human primary visual and auditory cortices is influenced by sensory experience and exhibits cross-modal plasticity in the absence of input from one modality. However, it remains debated whether the functional architecture of the prefrontal cortex, when engaged in social cognitive processes, is shaped by sensory experience. The present study investigated whether activity in the medial prefrontal cortex underlying self-reflective thinking of one's own traits is modality-specific and whether it undergoes cross-modal plasticity in the absence of visual input. We scanned 47 sighted participants and 21 congenitally blind individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging during trait judgements of the self and a familiar other. Sighted participants showed medial prefrontal activation and enhanced functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal and visual cortices during self-judgements compared to other-judgements on visually but not aurally presented trait words, indicating that medial prefrontal activity underlying self-representation is visual modality-specific in sighted people. In contrast, blind individuals showed medial prefrontal activation and enhanced functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal and occipital cortices during self-judgements relative to other-judgements on aurally presented stimuli, suggesting that visual deprivation leads to functional reorganization of the medial prefrontal cortex so as to be tuned by auditory inputs during self-referential processing. The medial prefrontal activity predicted memory performances on trait words used for self-judgements in both subject groups, implicating a similar functional role of the medial prefrontal cortex in self-referential processing in sighted and blind individuals. Together, our findings indicate that self-representation in the medial prefrontal cortex is strongly shaped by sensory experience.
推荐会议：
第一届国际医学影像和放射学新进展暨学术论著发表策略研讨会
2011 Medical Imaging and Radiological Innovations Conference
会议时间：2011年3月25日--3月27日
会议地点：上海医学院路复旦医学院明道楼
