Exploring the effects of ownership and choice on self-memory biases

The ownership memory self-reference effect shifts recognition criterion but not recognition sensitivity

Information referenced to the self is retrieved more accurately than information referenced to others, known as the memory self-reference effect. It is unclear, however, whether social context (identity of the other) or task factors alter decision-making processes. In a virtual object allocation task, female participants sorted objects into their own or another's (stranger or mother) basket based on a colour cue. Subsequently, they performed a recognition memory task in which they first indicated whether each object was old or new, and then whether it had been allocated to themselves or to the other. We obtained owner-specific hit rates and false-alarm rates and applied signal detection theory to derive separate recognition sensitivity (d') and recognition criterion parameters (c) for self- and other-owned objects. While there was no clear evidence of a recognition self-reference effect, or a change in sensitivity, participants adopted a more conservative recognition criterion for self- compared with other-owned objects, and particularly when the other-referent was the participant's mother compared with the stranger. Moreover, when discriminating whether the originally presented objects were self- or other-owned, participants were biased toward ascribing ownership to the 'other'. We speculate that these findings reflect ownership-based changes in decisional processing during the recognition memory self-reference paradigm.

Mine for life: Charting ownership effects in memory from adolescence to old age

This study investigates the self-reference effect (SRE) with an ownership memory task across several age groups, providing the first age exploration of implicit ownership memory biases from adolescence to older adulthood (N = 159). Using a well-established ownership task, participants were required to sort images of grocery items as belonging to themselves or to a fictitious unnamed Other. After sorting and a brief distractor task, participants completed a surprise one-step source memory test. Overall, there was a robust SRE, with greater source memory accuracy for self-owned items. The SRE attenuated with age, such that the magnitude of difference between self and other memory diminished into older adulthood. Importantly, these findings were not due to a deterioration of memory for self-owned items, but rather an increase in memory performance for other-owned items. Linear mixed effects analyses showed self-biases in reaction times, such that self-owned items were identified more rapidly compared with other owned items. Again, age interacted with this effect showing that the responses of older adults were slowed, especially for other-owned items. Several theoretical implications were drawn from these findings, but we suggest that older adults may not experience ownership-related biases to the same degree as younger adults. Consequently, SREs through the lens of mere ownership may attenuate with age.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia during biofeedback is linked to persistent improvements in attention, short-term memory, and positive self-referential episodic memory

Background

Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, an intervention based on the voluntary self-regulation of autonomic parameters, has been shown to affect prefrontal brain functioning and improve executive functions. The interest in using HRV biofeedback as cognitive training is typically ascribed to parasympathetic activation and optimized physiological functioning deriving from increased cardiac vagal control. However, the persistence of cognitive effects is poorly studied and their association with biofeedback-evoked autonomic changes has not yet been explored. In addition, no study has so far investigated the influence of HRV biofeedback in adults on long-term episodic memory, which is particularly concerned with self-referential encoding processing.

Methods

In the present study, a novel training system was developed integrating HRV and respiratory biofeedback into an immersive virtual reality environment to enhance training efficacy. Twenty-two young healthy adults were subjected to a blinded randomized placebo-controlled experiment, including six self-regulation training sessions, to evaluate the effect of biofeedback on autonomic and cognitive changes. Cardiac vagal control was assessed before, during, and 5 min after each training session. Executive functions, episodic memory, and the self-referential encoding effect were evaluated 1 week before and after the training program using a set of validated tasks.

Results

Linear mixed-effects models showed that HRV biofeedback greatly stimulated respiratory sinus arrhythmia during and after training. Moreover, it improved the attentional capabilities required for the identification and discrimination of stimuli ( η p 2 = 0.17), auditory short-term memory ( η p 2 = 0.23), and self-referential episodic memory recollection of positive stimuli ( η p 2 = 0.23). Episodic memory outcomes indicated that HRV biofeedback reinforced positive self-reference encoding processing. Cognitive changes were strongly dependent on the level of respiratory sinus arrhythmia evoked during self-regulation training.

Conclusion

The present study provides evidence that biofeedback moderates respiration-related cardiac vagal control, which in turn mediates improvements in several cognitive processes crucial for everyday functioning including episodic memory, that are maintained beyond the training period. The results highlight the interest in HRV biofeedback as an innovative research tool and medication-free therapeutic approach to affect autonomic and neurocognitive functioning. Finally, a neurocognitive model of biofeedback-supported autonomic self-regulation as a scaffolding for episodic memory is proposed.

Perceptual prioritization of self-associated voices

Information associated with the self is prioritized relative to information associated with others and is therefore processed more quickly and accurately. Across three experiments, we examined whether a new externally-generated voice could become associated with the self and thus be prioritized in perception. In the first experiment, participants learned associations between three unfamiliar voices and three identities (self, friend, stranger). Participants then made speeded judgements of whether voice-identity pairs were correctly matched, or not. A clear self-prioritization effect was found, with participants showing quicker and more accurate responses to the newly self-associated voice relative to either the friend- or stranger- voice. In two further experiments, we tested whether this prioritization effect increased if the self-voice was gender-matched to the identity of the participant (Experiment 2) or if the self-voice was chosen by the participant (Experiment 3). Gender-matching did not significantly influence prioritization; the self-voice was similarly prioritized when it matched the gender identity of the listener as when it did not. However, we observed that choosing the self-voice did interact with prioritization (Experiment 3); the self-voice became more prominent, via lesser prioritization of the other identities, when the self-voice was chosen relative to when it was not. Our findings have implications for the design and selection of individuated synthetic voices used for assistive communication devices, suggesting that agency in choosing a new vocal identity may modulate the distinctiveness of that voice relative to others.

Neural mechanisms supporting emotional and self-referential information processing and encoding in older and younger adults

Emotion and self-referential information can both enhance memory, but whether they do so via common mechanisms across the adult lifespan remains underexplored. To address this gap, the current study directly compared, within the same fMRI paradigm, the encoding of emotionally salient and self-referential information in older adults and younger adults. Behavioral results replicated the typical patterns of better memory for emotional than neutral information and for self-referential than non-self-referential materials; these memory enhancements were present for younger and older adults. In neural activity, young and older adults showed similar modulation by emotion, but there were substantial age differences in the way self-referential processing affected neural recruitment. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found little evidence for overlap in the neural mechanisms engaged for emotional and self-referential processing. These results reveal that-just as in cognitive domains-older adults can show similar performance to younger adults in socioemotional domains even though the two age groups engage distinct neural mechanisms. These findings demonstrate the need for future research delving into the neural mechanisms supporting older adults' memory benefits for socioemotional material.

Self-bias effect: movement initiation to self-owned property is speeded for both approach and avoidance actions

Recall of, and physical interaction with, self-owned items is privileged over items owned by other people (Constable et al. in Cognition 119(3):430-437, 2011; Cunningham et al. in Conscious Cognit 17(1):312-318, 2008). Here, we investigate approach (towards the item), compared with avoidance (away from the item) movements to images of self- and experimenter-owned items. We asked if initiation time and movement duration of button-press approach responses to self-owned items are associated with a systematic self-bias (overall faster responses), compared with avoidance movements, similar to findings of paradigms investigating affective evaluation of (unowned) items. Participants were gifted mugs to use, and after a few days they completed an approach-avoidance task (Chen and Bargh in Pers Soc Psychol Bull 25(2):215-224, 1999; Seibt et al. in J Exp Soc Psychol 44:713-720, 2008; Truong et al. in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 42(3), 375-385, 2016) to images of their own or the experimenter's mug, using either congruent or incongruent movement direction mappings. There was a self-bias effect for initiation time to the self-owned mug, for both congruent and incongruent mappings, and for movement duration in the congruent mapping. The effect was abolished in Experiment 2 when participants responded based on a shape on the handle rather than mug ownership. We speculate that ownership status requires conscious processing to modulate responses. Moreover, ownership status judgements and affective evaluation may employ different mechanisms.

Effects of a partner's task on memory for content and source

Human memories are malleable and often shaped by social interactions. Previous work has demonstrated that not only one's own goals, but also those of a task-partner can facilitate subsequent retrieval of goal-relevant lexical stimuli, known as the Joint Memory Effect (JME). We outline a social-epistemic account of the JME which proposes that this memory enhancement reflects humans' tendency to map out their interaction partners' knowledge states, leading them to cognitively prioritize information relevant to and selectively attended by their partner. This account predicts that the memory enhancement for partner-relevant words should be limited to contexts where task partners are required to process their targets in terms of meaning, instead of attending to a surface feature. Additionally, we predicted that facilitated recall performance for partner-relevant information would be accompanied by enhanced memory for the social context of that information, that is, participants should be able to link the remembered content to the agent acting on it. The results of four experiments support these predictions. We demonstrate that the JME emerges selectively, depending on which stimulus feature (word meaning or presentation color) is attended by the partner, and that it extends to (and may even depend on) memory for the social context of the targets. Prioritizing partner-relevant information in memory may be linked to processes involved in establishing and monitoring common ground.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: The Role of Action in Self-Referential Advantage in Children With Autism

Impaired self-processing in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is believed to be closely associated with social-communicative deficits, a core symptom of ASD. In three experiments, we aimed to investigate (a) whether children with ASD exhibited deficient in self-processing, as reflected by their superior memory for self-related items as compared to other-related items, and (b) the role that action played in promoting self-processing in ASD. In Experiment 1, children with ASD, children with intellectual disability (ID), and typically developing children were asked to memorize items on the cards assigned to them or to the experimenter. The results indicated that the TD and ID groups had a self-referential memory advantage, but the ASD group did not. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether the deficit in self-processing among children with ASDs was ameliorated when participants performed or observed an action to indicate the ownership of the items. We found that when children with ASD performed self-generated actions or observed virtual actions, they displayed a similar self-referential memory advantage as the other two groups. Our findings reveal that action plays an important role in the self-processing in children with ASD, and thereby contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of self-processing deficits in this population. Autism Res 2020, 13: 810-820. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research,Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We aimed to study whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibited deficient in self-processing and the role of action in promoting self-processing in ASD. We found that the typically developing and intellectual disability groups had a self-referential memory advantage, but the ASD group did not. However, children with ASD showed a significant self-referential advantage when they performed or observed an action to indicate the ownership of items. These findings highlight the vital role that action plays in cognitively enhancing their self-processing.

The relationship between endowment and ownership effects in memory across cultures

An object one owns is typically more highly valued than an equivalent object owned by another person. This endowment effect has been attributed to the aversion of loss of one's possessions (through selling), or the added value of an item due to self-association (through owning). To date, investigation of these mechanisms has been hampered by the between-subjects methodology traditionally employed to measure endowment. Over two experiments, we report a novel within-subjects method for measuring an endowment bias. In these studies, Western participants showed enhanced valuation of owned items, whereas East-Asian participants did not. This endowment bias also correlated with the ownership effect in memory (a measure of self-referential processing) in Western, but not East-Asian participants. Our results suggest that the endowment effect is partly predicated on the same factors that influence the ownership effect and that this commonality is likely linked to conceptions of ownership specifically, and self-concept more generally.

Control the source: Source memory for semantic, spatial and self-related items in patients with LIFG lesions

Patients with multimodal semantic deficits following stroke ('semantic aphasia') have largely intact knowledge, yet difficulty controlling conceptual retrieval to suit the circumstances. Although conceptual representations are thought to be largely distinct from episodic representations of recent events, controlled retrieval processes may overlap across semantic and episodic memory domains. We investigated this possibility by examining item familiarity and source memory for recent events in semantic aphasia following infarcts affecting left inferior frontal gyrus. We tested the hypothesis that the nature of impairment in episodic judgements reflects the need for control over retrieval: item familiarity might be relatively intact, given it is driven by strong cues (re-presentation of the item), while source recollection might be more impaired since this task involves resolving competition between several potential sources. This pattern was observed most strongly when the degree of competition between sources was higher, i.e., when non-meaningful sources had similar perceptual features, and existing knowledge was incongruent with the source. In contrast, when (i) spatial location acted as a strong cue for retrieval; (ii) existing knowledge was congruent with episodic memory and (iii) distinctiveness of sources was increased by means of self-referential processing, source memory reached normal levels. These findings confirm the association between deregulated control of semantic and episodic memory in patients with semantic aphasia and delineate circumstances that ameliorate or aggravate these deficits.

The mnemonic effect of choice

Making choices during encoding leads to superior memory compared with having the same choices made for you. Evidence also suggests that chosen items might be more memorable than unchosen alternatives. In prior experiments, an incidental memory advantage was found for chosen over unchosen items when participants chose which one of two words would be more useful to a situation. However, it remains uncertain whether this mnemonic benefit is due to the act of choosing or to a better "fit" of chosen items to the encoding situation (congruity). In the present research, we conducted two experiments to dissociate choice and congruity effects. In both experiments, we manipulated choice and congruity and showed mnemonic benefits for chosen words over unchosen words and for congruent words over incongruent words, but these effects did not interact. There is apparently a unique mnemonic benefit for chosen words that cannot be explained by their "fit" to the encoding task.

Exploring individual differences in self-reference effects for agency and ownership in 5- to 7-year-olds

Evidence that self-relevant information enjoys a privileged status in memory is termed the self-reference effect (SRE). Testing 5-to 7-year-olds (n = 39), we aimed to shed light on the SRE by examining the memorial advantage for self-relevant information as a function of general ability, theory of mind, empathy, and recollection. Playing in pairs, children were presented with an array of pictures and took turns to select pictures (agency) and turn them over to reveal to whom they belonged (ownership). Later, they viewed the studied pictures intermixed with new ones and provided recognition- and source memory judgements. There was a robust SRE in recognition memory, mainly for agency, which varied positively with intellectual ability but negatively with theory of mind, empathy, and recollection. These findings accord with claims that self-referential information benefits from elaboration handled by domain-general processes, with the SRE counteracted by social processes that increase attention to other people. Statement of Contribution What is already known on this subject? Self-referential information is remembered better than information with little or no personal relevance (the self-reference effect or SRE) Children as young as 4 years show the SRE in tests of recognition- and source memory What does this study add? We explored individual differences variables correlated with the SRE in 5-7 year olds The SRE showed a positive relation with general intellectual ability but negative relations with empathy, theory of mind and recollection We suggest that self-referential information benefits from elaboration handled by domain-general processes, with the SRE counteracted by social processes that increase attention to other people.

That's me in the spotlight: neural basis of individual differences in self-consciousness

A long-standing literature implicates activity within the default mode network (DMN) to processes linked to the self. However, contemporary work suggests that other large-scale networks networks might also be involved. For instance, goal-directed autobiographical planning requires positive functional connectivity (FC) between DMN and frontoparietal control (FPCN) networks. The present study examined the inter-relationship between trait self-focus (measured via a self-consciousness scale; SCS), incidental memory in a self-reference paradigm, and resting state FC of large-scale networks. Behaviourally, we found that private SCS was linked to stronger incidental memory for self-relevant information. We also examined how patterns of FC differed according to levels of self-consciousness by using the SCS data to drive multiple regression analyses with seeds from the DMN, the FPCN and the limbic network. High levels of SCS was not linked to differences in the functional behaviour of the DMN, however, it was linked to stronger FC between FPCN and a cluster extending into the hippocampus, which meta analytic decoding using Neurosynth linked to episodic memory retrieval. Subsequent analysis demonstrated that trait variance in this pattern of FC was a moderator for the observed relationship between private SCS and enhanced memory for self-items. Together these findings suggest that interactions between the FPCN and hippocampus may support the memory advantage of self-relevant information associated with SCS and confirm theoretical positions that argue that that self-related processing does not simply depend upon the DMN, but instead relies on complex patterns of interactions between multiple large-scale networks.

Self-Referential Information Alleviates Retrieval Inhibition of Directed Forgetting Effects-An ERP Evidence of Source Memory

Directed forgetting (DF) assists in preventing outdated information from interfering with cognitive processing. Previous studies pointed that self-referential items alleviated DF effects due to the elaboration of encoding processes. However, the retrieval mechanism of this phenomenon remains unknown. Based on the dual-process framework of recognition, the retrieval of self-referential information was involved in familiarity and recollection. Using source memory tasks combined with event-related potential (ERP) recording, our research investigated the retrieval processes of alleviative DF effects elicited by self-referential information. The FN400 (frontal negativity at 400 ms) is a frontal potential at 300–500 ms related to familiarity and the late positive complex (LPC) is a later parietal potential at 500–800 ms related to recollection. The FN400 effects of source memory suggested that familiarity processes were promoted by self-referential effects without the modulation of to-be-forgotten (TBF) instruction. The ERP results of DF effects were involved with LPCs of source memory, which indexed retrieval processing of recollection. The other-referential source memory of TBF instruction caused the absence of LPC effects, while the self-referential source memory of TBF instruction still elicited the significant LPC effects. Therefore, our neural findings suggested that self-referential processing improved both familiarity and recollection. Furthermore, the self-referential processing advantage which was caused by the autobiographical retrieval alleviated retrieval inhibition of DF, supporting that the self-referential source memory alleviated DF effects.

Disowning the Self: The Cultural Value of Modesty can Attenuate Self-Positivity

Western participants endorse a higher number of positive traits as self-descriptive, but endorse a lower number of negative traits as self-descriptive. They also respond quicker to categorize positive traits as self-descriptive, but respond slower to categorize negative traits as self-descriptive. Is this self-positivity bias qualified by the cultural value of modesty? We induced modesty (vs. punctuality) and assessed self-descriptiveness judgments and response times among Chinese participants. We replicated the self-positivity bias in regards to both self-descriptiveness judgments and response times. In the case of self-descriptiveness judgments, however, the bias was partially qualified by modesty. Relative to control participants, those in the modesty condition endorsed fewer positive traits as self-descriptive and manifested a tendency toward endorsing more negative traits as self-descriptive. In the case of response times, the self-positivity bias was unqualified by modesty. Within both conditions, participants were quicker to categorize positive traits as self-descriptive and were slower to categorize negative traits as self-descriptive. The results speak to the relation between the self-positivity bias and the self-reference effect and illustrate the malleability of self-processing.

Negative mood disrupts self- and reward-biases in perceptual matching

There are established effects of self- and reward-biases even on simple perceptual matching tasks [Sui, J., He, X., & Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Perceptual effects of social salience: Evidence from self-prioritization effects on perceptual matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105-1117]; however we know little about whether these biases can be modulated by particular interventions, and whether the biases then change in the same way. Here we assessed how the biases alter under conditions designed to induce negative mood. We had participants read a list of self-related negative or neutral mood statements [Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473-482] and also listen for 10 min to a passage of negative or neutral music, prior to carrying out perceptual matching with shapes associated to personal labels (self or stranger) or reward (£12 or £1). Responses to the self- and high-reward-associated shapes were selectively slower and less sensitive (d') following the negative mood induction procedures, and the decrease in mood correlated with decreases in the reaction time bias across "high saliency" (self and high-reward) stimuli. We suggest that negative mood may decrease self- and reward-biases through reducing attention to salient external stimuli.

How "mere" is the mere ownership effect in memory? Evidence for semantic organization processes

Memory is better for items arbitrarily assigned to the self than for items assigned to another person (mere ownership effect, MOE). In a series of six experiments, we investigated the role of semantic processes for the MOE. Following successful replication, we investigated whether the MOE was contingent upon semantic processing: For meaningless stimuli, there was no MOE. Testing for a potential role of semantic elaboration using meaningful stimuli in an encoding task without verbal labels, we found evidence of spontaneous semantic processing irrespective of self- or other-assignment. When semantic organization was manipulated, the MOE vanished if a semantic classification task was added to the self/other assignment but persisted for a perceptual classification task. Furthermore, we found greater clustering of self-assigned than of other-assigned items in free recall. Taken together, these results suggest that the MOE could be based on the organizational principle of a "me" versus "not-me" categorization.

Is the self a higher-order or fundamental function of the brain? The "basis model of self-specificity" and its encoding by the brain's spontaneous activity

What is the self? This is a question that has long been discussed in (Western) philosophy where the self is traditionally conceived a higher-order function at the apex or pinnacle of all functions. This tradition has been transferred to recent neuroscience where the self is often considered to be a higher-order cognitive function reflected in memory and other high-level judgements. However, other lines of research demonstrate a close and intimate relationship between self-specificity and more basic functions like perceptions, emotions and reward. This paper focuses on the relationship between self-specificity and other basic functions relating to emotions, reward and perception. I propose the basis model that conceives self-specificity as a fundamental feature of the brain's spontaneous activity. This is supported by recent findings showing rest-self overlap in midline regions as well as findings demonstrating that the resting state can predict subsequent degrees of self-specificity. I conclude that such self-specificity in the brain's spontaneous activity may be central in linking the self to either internal or external stimuli. This may also provide the basis for coding the self as subject in relation to internal (i.e., self-consciousness) or external (i.e., phenomenal consciousness) mental events.

We are more selfish than we think: The endowment effect and reward processing within the human medial-frontal cortex

Perceived ownership has been shown to impact a variety of cognitive processes: attention, memory, and--more recently--reward processing. In the present experiment we examined whether or not perceived ownership would interact with the construct of value-the relative worth of an object. Participants completed a simple gambling game in which they gambled either for themselves or for another while electroencephalographic data were recorded. In a key manipulation, gambles for oneself or for another were for either small or large rewards. We tested the hypothesis that value affects the neural response to self-gamble outcomes, but not other-gamble outcomes. Our experimental data revealed that while participants learned the correct response option for both self and other gambles, the reward positivity evoked by wins was impacted by value only when gambling for oneself. Importantly, our findings provide additional evidence for a self-ownership bias in cognitive processing and further demonstrate the insensitivity of the medial-frontal reward system to gambles for another.

Expanding and retracting from the self: Gains and costs in switching self-associations

We report 2 experiments to assess the strength of forming and breaking associations to the self, familiar others, and unfamiliar others in a simple shape–label matching task. In each experiment, participants first formed shape–person associations (e.g., triangle-self). Subsequently, they had to relearn the associations with the shapes and labels rearranged (self→stranger in Experiment 1; self→friend in Experiment 2) and they carried out a matching task in which they judged whether shape–label stimuli were as newly instructed or re-paired. There were faster responses and fewer errors on match trials for newly formed self-associated stimuli. In contrast, after switching, reaction times were slower and accuracy was reduced on mismatch trials involving shapes previously associated with the self. The strength of the self-advantage in forming the new association on match trials correlated with the difficulty in switching from the old self-associated shape on mismatch trials. The results indicate that self-reference enhances the binding of associations in memory; this facilitates associations to new stimuli, but there is a cost of interference from old associations.

Self-referential processing is distinct from semantic elaboration: evidence from long-term memory effects in a patient with amnesia and semantic impairments

We report data demonstrating that self-referential encoding facilitates memory performance in the absence of effects of semantic elaboration in a severely amnesic patient also suffering semantic problems. In Part 1, the patient, GA, was trained to associate items with the self or a familiar other during the encoding phase of a memory task (self-ownership decisions in Experiment 1 and self-evaluation decisions in Experiment 2). Tests of memory showed a consistent self-reference advantage, relative to a condition where the reference was another person in both experiments. The pattern of the self-reference advantage was similar to that in healthy controls. In Part 2 we demonstrate that GA showed minimal effects of semantic elaboration on memory for items he semantically classified, compared with items subject to physical size decisions; in contrast, healthy controls demonstrated enhanced memory performance after semantic relative to physical encoding. The results indicate that self-referential encoding, not semantic elaboration, improves memory in amnesia. Self-referential processing may provide a unique scaffold to help improve learning in amnesic cases.

The self-reference effect on memory in early childhood

The self-reference effect in memory is the advantage for information encoded about self, relative to other people. The early development of this effect was explored here using a concrete encoding paradigm. Trials comprised presentation of a self- or other-image paired with a concrete object. In Study 1, 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 53) were asked in each trial whether the child pictured would like the object. Recognition memory showed an advantage for self-paired objects. Study 2 (N = 55) replicated this finding in source memory. In Study 3 (N = 56), participants simply indicated object location. Again, recognition and source memory showed an advantage for self-paired items. These findings are discussed with reference to mechanisms that ensure information of potential self-relevance is reliably encoded.

The world according to me: personal relevance and the medial prefrontal cortex

More than a decade of neuroimaging research has established that anterior and posterior cortical midline regions are consistently recruited during self-referential thinking. These regions are engaged under conditions of directed cognition, such as during explicit self-reference tasks, as well as during spontaneous cognition, such as under conditions of rest. One of the many issues that remain to be clarified regarding the relationship between self-referential thinking and cortical midline activity is the functional specificity of these regions with regard to the nature of self-representation and processing. The functional profile associated with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is the focus of the current article. What is specifically explored is the idea that personal relevance or personal significance is a central factor that impacts how brain activity is modulated within this cortical midline region. The proactive, imaginative, and predictive nature of function in the mPFC is examined by evaluating studies of spontaneously directed cognition, which is triggered by stimulus-associated personal relevance.

Coupling social attention to the self forms a network for personal significance

Prior social psychological studies show that newly assigned personal significance can modulate high-level cognitive processes, e.g., memory and social evaluation, with self- and other-related information processed in dissociated prefrontal structure: ventral vs. dorsal, respectively. Here, we demonstrate the impact of personal significance on perception and show the neural network that supports this effect. We used an associative learning procedure in which we "tag" a neutral shape with a self-relevant label. Participants were instructed to associate three neutral shapes with labels for themselves, their best friend, or an unfamiliar other. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while participants judged whether the shape-label pairs were maintained or swapped. Behaviorally, participants rapidly tagged a neutral stimulus with self-relevance, showing a robust advantage for self-tagged stimuli. Self-tagging responses were associated with enhanced activity in brain regions linked to self-representation [the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)] and to sensory-driven regions associated with social attention [the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (LpSTS)]. In contrast, associations formed with other people recruited a dorsal frontoparietal control network, with the two networks being inversely correlated. Responses in the vmPFC and LpSTS predicted behavioral self-bias effects. Effective connectivity analyses showed that the vmPFC and the LpSTS were functionally coupled, with the strength of coupling associated with behavioral self-biases. The data show that assignment of personal social significance affects perceptual matching by coupling internal self-representations to brain regions modulating attentional responses to external stimuli.

Exploring early self-referential memory effects through ownership

The self-reference effect (SRE) is the reliable memory advantage for information encoded about self over material encoded about other people. The developmental pathway of the SRE has proved difficult to chart, because the standard SRE task is unsuitable for young children. The current inquiry was designed to address this issue using an ownership paradigm, as encoding objects in the context of self-ownership have been shown to elicit self-referential memory advantages in adults. Pairs of 4- to 6-year-old children (n = 64) sorted toy pictures into self- and other-owned sets. A surprise recognition memory test revealed a significant advantage for toys owned by self, which decreased with age. Neither verbal ability nor theory of mind attainment predicted the size of the memory advantage for self-owned items. This finding suggests that contrary to some previous reports, memory in early childhood can be shaped by the same self-referential biases that pervade adult cognition.