title: The Anatomical and Evolutionary Relationship between Self-awareness and Theory of Mind.
abstract: Although theories that examine direct links between behavior and brain remain incomplete, it is known that brain expansion significantly correlates with caloric and oxygen demands. Therefore, one of the principles governing evolutionary cognitive neuroscience is that cognitive abilities that require significant brain function (and/or structural support) must be accompanied by significant fitness benefit to offset the increased metabolic demands. One such capacity is self-awareness (SA), which (1) is found only in the greater apes and (2) remains unclear in terms of both cortical underpinning and possible fitness benefit. In the current experiment, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the prefrontal cortex during a spatial perspective-taking task involving self and other viewpoints. It was found that delivery of TMS to the right prefrontal region disrupted self-, but not other-, perspective. These data suggest that self-awareness may have evolved in concert with other right hemisphere cognitive abilities.
authors.affiliation: The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guise
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romanowski
authors.affiliation: University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vogeley
authors.affiliation: University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Platek
authors.affiliation: City University of New York, Queens, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory, Montclair State University, 219 Dickson Hall, Upper Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA. keenanj@mail.montclair.edu.
authors.forename: Julian Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Keenan
keywords: Prefrontal cortex; Self-awareness; Theory of mind; Transcranial magnetic stimulation