Disentangling Neural Activation to Self and Others Using Structural Connectivity

1 page.The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is prevalent in self-referential and social cognition tasks, often found to be split between the ventral MPFC and dorsal MPFC with the former engaging in self-reference and the latter engaging in responses when thinking of others. Yet, the split has limited neurooanatomical definition as there is frequent and significant overlap of activation between the two regions. In this study, we investigate the role that structural connectivity, measured by probabilistic tractography, may play to differentiate the overlap in the MPFC to distinguish self-other related activity. In a sample of 114 subjects, we measured brain activation to self and others using a trait-judgement fMRI task paradigm. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a regularized regression model will be used to predict activation values within the MPFC for both self and others based on the underlying structural connectivity patterns. By comparing the structural connectivity pattern weights, the model aims to differentiate activity for self vs. other within overlapping areas within the MPFC. Results will be presented testing the utility of using predictive models based on structural connectivity for differentiating these processes which may aid in understanding how different mental processes share overlapping cortical real estate