title: The neural correlates of in-group and self-face perception: is there overlap for high identifiers?
abstract: Social identity, the part of the self-concept derived from group membership, is a key explanatory construct for a wide variety of behaviors, ranging from organizational commitment to discrimination toward out-groups. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the neural basis of social identity through a comparison with the neural correlates of self-face perception. Participants viewed a series of pictures, one at a time, of themselves, a familiar other, in-group members, and out-group members. We created a contrast for self-face perception by subtracting brain activation in response to the familiar other from brain activation in response to the self face, and a contrast for social identity by subtracting brain activation in response to out-group faces from brain activation in response to in-group faces. In line with previous research, for the self-familiar other contrast we found activation in several right-hemisphere regions (inferior frontal gyrus, inferior and superior parietal lobules). In addition, we found activation in closely-adjacent brain areas for the social identity contrast. Importantly, significant clusters of activation in this in-group-out-group contrast only emerged to the extent that participants reported high identification with the in-group. These results suggest that self-perception and social identity depend on partly similar neural processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands ; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scheepers
authors.forename: Belle
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Derks
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nieuwenhuis
authors.forename: Gert-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lelieveld
authors.forename: Félice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van Nunspeet
authors.forename: Serge A R B
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rombouts
authors.forename: Mischa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Rover
keywords: functional neuroimaging; group identification; self-perception; social identity
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