How The Brain Processes Information When Making Self-Judgments

New research published in Social Neuroscience sheds light on the neural responses related to endorsing positive and negative words about oneself. The findings could have implications for the development of depression in adolescence.

For their study, the researchers recorded the electrical brain activity of 109 adolescents as they read positive and negative words, such as “gloomy” or “joyful,” and indicated whether the words were self-descriptive.

By examining specific neural markers, the researchers found that those with an exaggerated tendency to view negative words as self-descriptive showed blunted processing of positive self-referential words, compared to those who tended to view positive words as self-descriptive. In other words, individuals with a highly negative bias appeared to process self-referential information differently than individuals with a highly positive bias.

The researchers also found that depressive symptoms were associated with an increased endorsement of negative words. But, surprisingly, depressive symptoms appeared to be unrelated to brain activity.

Source: Social Neuroscience Journal