Medial prefrontal activity during self-other judgments is modulated by relationship need fulfillment

Stefano I. Di Domenico, Marc A. Fournier, Achala H. Rodrigo, Mengxi Dong, Hasan Ayaz, Richard M. Ryan, Anthony C. Ruocco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays an important role in representing semantic self-knowledge. Studies comparing semantic self-judgments with judgments of close others suggest that interpersonal closeness may influence the degree to which the MPFC differentiates self and other. We used optical neuroimaging to examine if support for competence, relatedness, and autonomy from relationship partners moderates MPFC activity during a personality judgment task. Participants (N = 109) were asked to judge the descriptive accuracy of trait adjectives for both themselves and a friend. Participants who reported lower need fulfillment with their friend showed elevated activity only in the self-judgment condition; in contrast, participants who reported higher need fulfillment with their friend showed similarly high levels of MPFC activity across the conditions. These results are consistent with the idea that the MPFC differentially represents others on the basis of the need fulfillment experienced within the relationship.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)236-245
Number of pages10
JournalSocial Neuroscience
Volume17
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Basic psychological needs
  • medial prefrontal cortex
  • relationships
  • self-determination theory
  • self-referential processes

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