Superiority illusion and the contribution of dopamine

The majority of individuals evaluate themselves as superior to average. This is a cognitive bias, called "the superiority illusion". This illusory self-evaluation helps us to have hops for the future, and has been central to the process of human evolution. Possessing this illusion is also important for mental health, as depressed people appear to have a more realistic perception of themselves, called "depressive realism". Our recent study revealed spontaneous brain functions and central dopamine neurotransmission that generate this illusion, using resting-state fMRI and PET. A functional connectivity between frontal cortex and striatum regulated by inhibitory dopaminergic neurotransmissions determines individual levels of the superiority illusion. This finding suggests that dopamine acts on striatal dopamine receptors to suppress fronto-striatal functional connectivity, leading to disinhibited heuristic approaches to positive self-evaluation. These findings help us to understand how this key aspect of the human mind is biologically determined, and will suggest treatments for depressive realism by targeting specific molecules and neural circuits.3rd International Conference “Aspects of Neuroscience”にて発