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What about the “Self” is Processed in the Posterior Cingulate Cortex?
Open accessAbstract
In the past decade, neuroimaging research has begun to identify key brain regions involved in self-referential processing, most consistently midline structures such as the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). The majority of studies have employed cognitive tasks such as judgment about trait adjectives or mind wandering, that have been associated with increased PCC activity. Conversely, tasks that share an element of present-centered attention (being "on task"), ranging from working memory to meditation, have been associated with decreased PCC activity. Given the complexity of cognitive processes that likely contribute to these tasks, the specific contribution of the PCC to self-related processes still remains unknown. Building on this prior literature, recent studies have employed sampling methods that more precisely link subjective experience to brain activity, such as real-time fMRI neurofeedback. This recent work suggests that PCC activity may represent a sub-component cognitive process of self-reference - "getting caught up in" one's experience. For example, getting caught up in a drug craving or a particular viewpoint. In this paper, we will review evidence across a number of different domains of cognitive neuroscience that converges in activation and deactivation of the PCC including recent neurophenomenological studies of PCC activity using real-time fMRI neurofeedback.
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![Figure 1 Examples of real-time neurofeedback from the PCC in meditators. Graphs show percent signal change in the PCC relative to an active baseline task. (A) “I was trying to envision that I had a lot of work to do today … It didn’t work.” (B) “I decided to picture wedding plans and so I started off thinking about my wedding and how I wanted to look good and then it just started to go blue. I switched to babies and I thought, ‘I want babies’ and I think that might correlate with a little red blip but then I couldn’t sustain it … I’m wondering if I’m focusing so much that it’s just going blue because I’m focusing but I can’t get, I can’t get the self to kick in when I’m told to.” (C) “I tried to think about what was the thing that agitated me most and I thought it was [a certain person] and so I started thinking about her and I, at first it was just the name and I dropped into blue and so and then I started conjuring up images of [my boyfriend] with her and it super spiked and then it just took a lot of effort so then I had to drop it. And I just kept trying to pick it up a little bit which I think correlates with the kind of like final two spikes, the kind of final two points in the red. Although, it was just so much energy, I couldn’t sustain it, which was why I couldn’t keep that really high spike going … I couldn’t sustain it and so that kind of correlates with not being able to hold on to that throughout.”](/paper-figures/e2897710318d4f608786135c4aa22807/what-about-the-self-is-processed-in-the-posterior-cingulate-cortex-figure-1.jpg)
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“Worry has been shown to activate brain networks associated with self-referential processing, such as the default-mode network, suggesting that the more one is caught up in perseveration about uncertain events, the more this network is activated [32,33];”
From Clinical Efficacy and Psychological Mechanisms of an App-Based Digital Therapeutic for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial (2021) · cites this paper as [33]
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“The DN is anchored by activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC; narrative and autobiographical self) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC; experiential self-reflection; e.g., Buckner et al., 2008; Qin and Northoff, 2011; Brewer et al., 2013).”
From Distinct functional connectivities predict clinical response with emotion regulation therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Brewer et al., 2013
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“In particular, self-referentiality is commonly associated with neural activation in the DN, regarded as a network associated with autobiographical, self-monitoring and social cognitive functions.”
From Distinct functional connectivities predict clinical response with emotion regulation therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Brewer et al., 2013
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Metadata
- Authors
- Brewer, J. A., Garrison, K. A., & Whitfield-Gabrieli, S.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Brewer, Judson A.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 647-647
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3788347
- OpenAlex
- W1993134051
- Cited by
- 263
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 1.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Keywords
- posterior cingulate cortex, self-referential processing, self, real-time fMRI neurofeedback, neurophenomenology, mind wandering, trait judgments, working memory, meditation, drug craving
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