Fronto-temporoparietal connectivity and self-awareness in 18-month-olds: A resting state fNIRS study
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Documents
- 1-s2.0-S1878929318303451-main
Final published version, 4.8 MB, PDF document
How and when a concept of the ‘self’ emerges has been the topic of much interest in developmental psychology. Self-awareness has been proposed to emerge at around 18 months, when toddlers start to show evidence of physical self-recognition. However, to what extent physical self-recognition is a valid indicator of being able to think about oneself, is debated. Research in adult cognitive neuroscience has suggested that a common network of brain regions called Default Mode Network (DMN), including the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is recruited when we are reflecting on the self. We hypothesized that if mirror self-recognition involves self-awareness, toddlers who exhibit mirror self-recognition might show increased functional connectivity between frontal and temporoparietal regions of the brain, relative to those toddlers who do not yet show mirror self-recognition. Using fNIRS, we collected resting-state data from 18 Recognizers and 22 Non-Recognizers at 18 months of age. We found significantly stronger fronto-temporoparietal connectivity in Recognizers compared to Non-Recognizers, a finding which might support the hypothesized relationship between mirror-self recognition and self-awareness in infancy.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 100676 |
Journal | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
Volume | 38 |
ISSN | 1878-9293 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2019 |
- Default mode network, fNIRS, Functional connectivity, Resting-state, Self-awareness, Toddler development
Research areas
Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk
ID: 226529010