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Abstract:
Evidence from neuroimaging studies has indicated that
episodic autobiographical memories and self- face and voice
recognition may be correlated with right frontal activity. Seven
subjects were presented with various 'morphed' images. These morphs
were either composed of the subject's own face and a famous person
(SELF) or a familiar person's face and a famous person (FAMILIAR).
The morphs were presented in varying gradations in a reaction time/
identification task and subjects were given the instructions to
press a certain key every time the image was that of a famous
person (e.g. 'Press the x key when the face is Bill Clinton, press
the z key when the face is not Bill Clinton). Repetitive
transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was applied to various
regions of the prefrontal cortex at different frequencies. It was
found that subjects identified the images as famous less often when
the morphs were from the SELF condition and they responded with
their left hand. Further, 1 Hz Right prefrontal rTMS decreased the
number of identifications of famous from the SELF but not FAMILIAR
condition. These data indicated that the right prefrontal cortex
may be preferentially involved in self- face identification and/ or
perception.
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