Spatio-temporal brain dynamics of self-identity: an EEG source analysis of the current and past self.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Muñoz, Francisco Rubianes, Miguel Jiménez-Ortega, Laura Fondevila, Sabela Hernández-Gutiérrez, David Sánchez-García, José Martínez-de-Quel, Óscar Casado, Pilar Martín-Loeches, Manuel
Abstract	Current research on self-identity suggests that the self is settled in a unique mental representation updated across the lifespan in autobiographical memory. Spatio-temporal brain dynamics of these cognitive processes are poorly understood. ERP studies revealed early (N170-N250) and late (P3-LPC) waveforms modulations tracking the temporal processing of global face configuration, familiarity processes, and access to autobiographical contents. Neuroimaging studies revealed that such processes encompass face-specific regions of the occipitotemporal cortex, and medial cortical regions tracing the self-identity into autobiographical memory across the life span. The present study combined both approaches, analyzing brain source power using a data-driven, beamforming approach. Face recognition was used in two separate tasks: identity (self, close friend and unknown) and life stages (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) recognition. The main areas observed were specific-face areas (fusiform area), autobiographical memory areas (medial prefrontal cortex, parahippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus), along with executive areas (dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior temporal cortices). The cluster-permutation test yielded no significant early effects (150–200 ms). However, during the 250–300 ms time window, the precuneus and the fusiform cortices exhibited larger activation to familiar compared to unknown faces, regardless of life stages. Subsequently (300–600 ms), the medial prefrontal cortex discriminates between self-identity vs. close-familiar and unknown. Moreover, significant effects were found in the cluster-permutation test specifically on self-identity discriminating between adulthood from adolescence and childhood. These findings suggest that recognizing self-identity from other facial identities (diachronic self) comprises the temporal coordination of anterior and posterior areas. While mPFC maintained an updated representation of self-identity (diachronic self) based on actual rewarding value, the dlPFC, FG, MTG, paraHC, PCC was sensitive to different life stages of self-identity (synchronic self) during the access to autobiographical memory.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00429-022-02515-9.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC9232421&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	18632653
Journal	Brain Structure & Function [Brain Struct Funct]
Volume Number	227
DOI	10.1007/s00429-022-02515-9
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9232421
Issue Number	6
PubMed reference number	35672533
e-ISSN	18632661
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2022-06-07
Publisher Place	Berlin/Heidelberg
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2022
Subject Keyword	Source localization Self-identity Self-continuity Cluster-based permutation test
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Neuroscience Anatomy Histology