A Meta-analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Self- and Other Judgments Reveals a Spatial Gradient for Mentalizing in Medial Prefrontal Cortex

摘要

The distinction between processes used to perceive and understandnthe self and others has received considerable attentionnin psychology and neuroscience. Brain findings highlight a rolenfor various regions, in particular the medial PFC (mPFC), in supportingnjudgments about both the self and others. We performedna meta-analysis of 107 neuroimaging studies of self- and otherrelatednjudgments usingmultilevel kernel density analysis [Kober,nH., & Wager, T. D. Meta-analyses of neuroimaging data. WileynInterdisciplinary Reviews, 1, 293–300, 2010]. We sought to determinenwhat brain regions are reliably involved in each judgmentntype and, in particular, what the spatial and functional organizationnof mPFC is with respect to them. Relative to nonmentalizingnjudgments, both self- and other judgments were associated withnactivity in mPFC, ranging from ventral to dorsal extents, as wellnas common activation of the left TPJ and posterior cingulate. Andirect comparison between self- and other judgments revealednthat ventral mPFC as well as left ventrolateral PFC and left insulanwere more frequently activated by self-related judgments,nwhereas dorsal mPFC, in addition to bilateral TPJ and cuneus,nwas more frequently activated by other-related judgments. Logisticnregression analyses revealed that ventral and dorsal mPFC laynat opposite ends of a functional gradient: The z coordinates reportednin individual studies predicted whether the study involvednself- or other-related judgments, which were associated with increasinglynventral or dorsal portions of mPFC, respectively. Thesenresults argue for a distributed rather than localizationist accountnof mPFC organization and support an emerging view on the functionalnheterogeneity of mPFC.