title: Spontaneous activity in default-mode network predicts ascription of self-relatedness to stimuli.
abstract: Spontaneous activity levels prior to stimulus presentation can determine how that stimulus will be perceived. It has also been proposed that such spontaneous activity, particularly in the default-mode network (DMN), is involved in self-related processing. We therefore hypothesised that pre-stimulus activity levels in the DMN predict whether a stimulus is judged as self-related or not. Participants were presented in the MRI scanner with a white noise stimulus that they were instructed contained their name or another. They then had to respond with which name they thought they heard. Regions where there was an activity level difference between self and other response trials 2 s prior to the stimulus being presented were identified. Pre-stimulus activity levels were higher in the right temporoparietal junction, the right temporal pole and the left superior temporal gyrus in trials where the participant responded that they heard their own name than trials where they responded that they heard another. Pre-stimulus spontaneous activity levels in particular brain regions, largely overlapping with the DMN, predict the subsequent judgement of stimuli as self-related. This extends our current knowledge of self-related processing and its apparent relationship with intrinsic brain activity in what can be termed a rest-self overlap.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Unit, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), Ottawa, Canada, Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan, qin.pengmin@gmail.com pengmin.qin@theroyal.ca.
authors.forename: Pengmin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Charité, CBF, Berlin, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grimm
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Niall W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Charité, CBF, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Unit, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Zirui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, and.
authors.forename: Xuchu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Charité, CBF, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Malek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bajbouj
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Unit, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), Ottawa, Canada, Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan, Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, and University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Northoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: default-mode network; own name; pre-stimulus activity; rest–stimulus interaction; self-related processing