Enough About You, Let's Talk About Me

Talking about oneself stimulates the brain's reward system.

Much of the information we communicate to others involves personal experiences and opinions. This study examines the neural underpinnings of self-disclosure. The investigators used functional magnetic resonance imaging in several paradigms to examine activity in the brain regions associated with reward: the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA).

Seventy-eight participants alternately divulged their own opinions or judged those of others. Disclosing their own opinions elicited significantly greater NAcc activity than did considering others' opinions. In a variation of this paradigm, 117 participants alternately disclosed their beliefs about their own personality traits or those of another person — the U.S. President. T…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Enough About You, Let's Talk About Me

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Reviewing Author