title: Brains creating stories of selves: the neural basis of autobiographical reasoning.
abstract: Personal identity critically depends on the creation of stories about the self and one's life. The present study investigates the neural substrates of autobiographical reasoning, a process central to the construction of such narratives. During functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, participants approached a set of personally significant memories in two different ways: in some trials, they remembered the concrete content of the events (autobiographical remembering), whereas in other trials they reflected on the broader meaning and implications of their memories (autobiographical reasoning). Relative to remembering, autobiographical reasoning recruited a left-lateralized network involved in conceptual processing [including the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and angular gyrus]. The ventral MPFC--an area that may function to generate personal/affective meaning--was not consistently engaged during autobiographical reasoning across participants but, interestingly, the activity of this region was modulated by individual differences in interest and willingness to engage in self-reflection. These findings support the notion that autobiographical reasoning and the construction of personal narratives go beyond mere remembering in that they require deriving meaning and value from past experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology - Cognition and Behavior, University of Liège, Boulevard du Rectorat 3 (B33), 4000 Liège, Belgium. a.dargembeau@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Argembeau
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cassol
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balteau
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Martial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van der Linden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D033262:Narration; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autobiographical memory; autobiographical reasoning; fMRI; self-defining memories; self-reflection