Hand Response Differences in a Self-Face Identification Task

Evidence has indicated that the right frontal cortex is preferentially involved in self-face recognition. To test this further, we employed a face identification task and examined hand response differences (N=10). Pictures of famous faces were combined with pictures of the participants\u27 faces (self) and their co-workers\u27 faces (familiar). These images were presented as a \u27movie\u27 in which one face transformed into another. Under the first instruction set, the movies began with either the participant\u27s face or a co-worker\u27s face, and the sequences gradually morphed into a famous face. When told to stop the movie when the face in the sequence became famous, a significantly later \u27frame\u27 was identified when the movies were composed of self-faces and the participants responded with their left hand. When the movies started with the famous faces and participants had to stop the movie when it became their own or their familiar co-worker\u27s image (Instruction set 2), a significantly earlier frame was identified in the \u27Self: Left hand\u27 condition. The data suggest that participants are inclined to identify images as their own when the right hemisphere is preferentially accessed. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd