Having a word with yourself: Neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Export

@article{citeulike:5808508, abstract = {Self-criticism is strongly correlated with a range of psychopathologies, such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. In contrast, self-reassurance is inversely associated with such psychopathologies. Despite the importance of self-judgements and evaluations, little is known about the neurophysiology of these internal processes. The current study therefore used a novel fMRI task to investigate the neuronal correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Participants were presented statements describing two types of scenario, with the instruction to either imagine being self-critical or self-reassuring in that situation. One scenario type focused on a personal setback, mistake or failure, which would elicit negative emotions, whilst the second was of a matched neutral event. Self-criticism was associated with activity in lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions and dorsal anterior cingulate (dAC), therefore linking self-critical thinking to error processing and resolution, and also behavioural inhibition. Self-reassurance was associated with left temporal pole and insula activation, suggesting that efforts to be self-reassuring engage similar regions to expressing compassion and empathy towards others. Additionally, we found a dorsal/ventral PFC divide between an individual's tendency to be self-critical or self-reassuring. Using multiple regression analyses, dorsolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high levels of self-criticism (assessed via self-report measure), suggesting greater error processing and behavioural inhibition in such individuals. Ventrolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high self-reassurance. Our findings may have implications for the neural basis of a range of mood disorders that are characterised by a preoccupation with personal mistakes and failures, and a self-critical response to such events.}, author = {Longe, Olivia and Maratos, Frances A. and Gilbert, Paul and Evans, Gaynor and Volker, Faye and Rockliff, Helen and Rippon, Gina}, citeulike-article-id = {5808508}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.09.019}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1053811909009987}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19770047}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19770047}, day = {18}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.09.019}, issn = {1095-9572}, journal = {NeuroImage}, keywords = {insula, loving\_kindness, meditation, self\_criticism, self\_encouragement}, month = {September}, posted-at = {2009-11-06 20:02:53}, priority = {2}, title = {Having a word with yourself: Neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.09.019}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5808508 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5808508 N2 - Self-criticism is strongly correlated with a range of psychopathologies, such as depression, eating disorders and anxiety. In contrast, self-reassurance is inversely associated with such psychopathologies. Despite the importance of self-judgements and evaluations, little is known about the neurophysiology of these internal processes. The current study therefore used a novel fMRI task to investigate the neuronal correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Participants were presented statements describing two types of scenario, with the instruction to either imagine being self-critical or self-reassuring in that situation. One scenario type focused on a personal setback, mistake or failure, which would elicit negative emotions, whilst the second was of a matched neutral event. Self-criticism was associated with activity in lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions and dorsal anterior cingulate (dAC), therefore linking self-critical thinking to error processing and resolution, and also behavioural inhibition. Self-reassurance was associated with left temporal pole and insula activation, suggesting that efforts to be self-reassuring engage similar regions to expressing compassion and empathy towards others. Additionally, we found a dorsal/ventral PFC divide between an individual's tendency to be self-critical or self-reassuring. Using multiple regression analyses, dorsolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high levels of self-criticism (assessed via self-report measure), suggesting greater error processing and behavioural inhibition in such individuals. Ventrolateral PFC activity was positively correlated with high self-reassurance. Our findings may have implications for the neural basis of a range of mood disorders that are characterised by a preoccupation with personal mistakes and failures, and a self-critical response to such events. JF - NeuroImage SN - 1095-9572 TI - Having a word with yourself: Neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. KW - insula KW - loving_kindness KW - meditation KW - self_criticism KW - self_encouragement AU - Longe, Olivia AU - Maratos, Frances AU - Gilbert, Paul AU - Evans, Gaynor AU - Volker, Faye AU - Rockliff, Helen AU - Rippon, Gina PY - 2009/09/18/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.09.019 ER -