Neural mechanisms involved in the detection of our first name: a combined ERPs and PET study.
In everyday social interactions, hearing our own first name captures our attention and gives rise to a sense of self-awareness, since it is one of the most socially self related stimulus. In the present study, we combined ERPs and PET scan methods to explore the cerebral mechanisms underlying the detection of our own name. While categorical analyses of PET data failed to reveal significant results, we found that the amplitude of the P3 component, elicited when hearing one's own name, correlates with regional cerebral blood changes in right superior temporal sulcus, precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex. Additionally, the latter was more correlated to the P3 obtained for the subject's name compared to that obtained for other first names. These results suggest that the medial prefrontal cortex plays the most prominent role in self-processing.
Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron, Université de Liège, Belgique. fabien.perrin@univ-lyon1.fr
Fabien
F
Perrin
Pierre
P
Maquet
Philippe
P
Peigneux
Perrine
P
Ruby
Christian
C
Degueldre
Evelyne
E
Balteau
Guy
G
Del Fiore
Gustave
G
Moonen
André
A
Luxen
Steven
S
Laureys
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*