TY  - JOUR
AU  - David, N.
AU  - Bewernick, B. H.
AU  - Cohen, M. X.
AU  - Newen, A.
AU  - Lux, S.
AU  - Fink, G. R.
AU  - Shah, J. N.
AU  - Vogeley, K.
TI  - Neural representations of self versus other: visual-spatial perspective taking and agency in a virtual ball-tossing game
JO  - Journal of cognitive neuroscience
VL  - 18
SN  - 0898-929X
CY  - Cambridge, Mass.
PB  - MIT Pr. Journals
M1  - PreJuSER-51744
SP  - 898 - 910
PY  - 2006
N1  - Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012
AB  - Human self-consciousness relies on the ability to distinguish between oneself and others. We sought to explore the neural correlates involved in self-other representations by investigating two critical processes: perspective taking and agency. Although recent research has shed light on the neural processes underlying these phenomena, little is known about how they overlap or interact at the neural level. In a two-factorial functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, participants played a ball-tossing game with two virtual characters ("avatars"). During an active/agency (ACT) task, subjects threw a ball to one of the avatars by pressing a button. During a passive/nonagency (PAS) task, they indicated which of the other avatars threw the ball. Both tasks were performed from a first-person perspective (1PP), in which subjects interacted from their own perspective, and a third-person perspective (3PP), in which subjects interacted from the perspective of an avatar with another location in space. fMRI analyses revealed overlapping activity in medial prefrontal regions associated with representations of one's own perspective and actions (1PP and ACT), and overlapping activity in temporal-occipital, premotor, and inferior frontal, as well as posterior parietal regions associated with representation of others' perspectives and actions (3PP and PAS). These findings provide evidence for distinct neural substrates underlying representations of the self and others and provide support for the idea that the medial prefrontal cortex crucially contributes to a neural basis of the self. The lack of a statistically significant interaction suggests that perspective taking and agency represent independent constituents of self-consciousness.
KW  - Adult
KW  - Brain Mapping
KW  - Cerebral Cortex: blood supply
KW  - Cerebral Cortex: physiology
KW  - Consciousness: physiology
KW  - Humans
KW  - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted: methods
KW  - Interpersonal Relations
KW  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging: methods
KW  - Male
KW  - Oxygen: blood
KW  - Photic Stimulation: methods
KW  - Psychomotor Performance: physiology
KW  - Reaction Time: physiology
KW  - Self Concept
KW  - Space Perception: physiology
KW  - Oxygen (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - J (WoSType)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:16839298
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000238452000004
DO  - DOI:10.1162/jocn.2006.18.6.898
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/51744
ER  -