title: Cultural modulation of self-referential brain activity for personality traits and social identities.
abstract: Cross-cultural studies have shown that personality traits are less central and social identities are more important to the selfhood of collectivistic people. However, most cultural neuroscience studies using the self-reference effect (SRE) paradigm have only used personality traits to explore cultural differences in the neural circuits of self-referential processes. In the present study, we used both personality traits and social identities as stimuli in the SRE paradigm and investigated whether and how one's cultural orientation (i.e., individualism vs. collectivism) affects the SRE in the brain. The results showed that the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, bilateral temporoparietal regions, and precuneus were involved in self-representation for both personality traits and social identities. Importantly, cultural orientation predicted differential activation patterns in these regions. Collectivists showed stronger activation in the left temporoparietal regions than individualists, who mainly recruited the medial prefrontal regions. Our findings suggest that the personal and social self share common neural substrates, the activation of which can be modulated by one's cultural orientation.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Sunhae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sul
authors.forename: Incheol
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Pyungwon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010551:Personality; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen