Abstract
Visual perspective (i.e. first-person versus third-person perspective) during autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval plays a role in both emotional regulation and self-related processes. However, its neural underpinnings remain mostly unexplored. Visual perspective during AM retrieval was assessed in two independent datasets of 45 and 20 healthy young adults with two different AM retrieval tasks. Diffeomorphic anatomical registration using exponentiated lie algebra and voxel-based morphometry were used to assess individual differences in the precuneus grey matter volume. The spontaneous tendency to recall memories from a first-person perspective was positively correlated with the right precuneus volume among the two independent datasets. Whole-brain analyses revealed that these results were relatively specific to the anterior part of the right precuneus. Our results provide first evidence for the role of the precuneus in egocentric spatial processing in the context of AM retrieval among healthy subjects.
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Abbreviations
- AM:
-
Autobiographical memory
- BDI-13:
-
13-item Beck depression inventory
- DARTEL:
-
Diffeomorphic anatomical registration using exponentiated lie algebra
- fMRI:
-
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- FWE:
-
Family-wise error
- GM:
-
Grey matter
- ROI:
-
Region of interest
- TIV:
-
Total intracranial volume
- VBM:
-
Voxel-based morphometry
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Acknowledgments
M. Freton was supported by fundings from the Foundation pour la Recherche Médicale. C. Lemogne was supported by fundings from the Fonds d’Etude et de Recherche du Corps Médical de l’Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris and the Lilly Institute. P. Fossati was supported by a NARSAD Young Investigator Award 2003.
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Freton, M., Lemogne, C., Bergouignan, L. et al. The eye of the self: precuneus volume and visual perspective during autobiographical memory retrieval. Brain Struct Funct 219, 959–968 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0546-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0546-2