The Effects of Self-Relevance on the Modulation of Brain Responses to Social Stimuli

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dc.contributor.advisorChavez, Robert
dc.contributor.authorGuthrie, Taylor
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-24T19:04:47Z
dc.date.available2025-02-24T19:04:47Z
dc.date.issued2025-02-24
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation investigates the neural mechanisms underlying self-referential processing and its influence on cognitive resource allocation and social cognition. Through a series of fMRI studies employing novel experimental designs and multivariate analysis techniques we provide evidence for the self as a powerful cognitive construct that shapes information processing across multiple levels of brain function. We first demonstrate that self-relevant narratives elicit widespread activation and increased neural synchrony across cortical hierarchies. This is seen from low-level sensory regions to higher-order cognitive areas and highlight the self's ability to modulate attention and enhance processing of personally significant information. The second study reveals that social relationship strength predicts the uniqueness of neural representations in key social cognition regions. Closer relationships are found to be associated with more individuated patterns in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and anterior insula. Surprisingly, posterior regions like the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) show more generalized representations for close others which align with behavioral findings of normative trait endorsements. Lastly, we successfully decode person identity from neural activity patterns in default mode network regions which demonstrate the presence of reliable social information that can differentiate familiar individuals. Together, these findings advance our understanding of how the self influences cognitive processing and shapes our perceptions of others. This work contributes to a more mechanistic account of self-referential processing and its role in guiding social cognition.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/30435
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectIntersubject Correlationen_US
dc.subjectMultivariate Pattern Analysisen_US
dc.subjectNaturalistic Neuroscienceen_US
dc.subjectPerson Perceptionen_US
dc.subjectSelf-Referential Processingen_US
dc.subjectSocial Cognitionen_US
dc.titleThe Effects of Self-Relevance on the Modulation of Brain Responses to Social Stimuli
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineDepartment of Psychology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.leveldoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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