reality？=？relevance insights from spontaneous modulations of the brains default network when telling apart reality from fiction现实= 相关性从自发的调节大脑的默认网络区分现实与虚构.pdfVIP

Reality = Relevance? Insights from Spontaneous Modulations of the Brain’s Default Network when Telling Apart Reality from Fiction Anna Abraham1,2*, D. Yves von Cramon1,3 1 Department of Cognitive Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, 2 Department of Clinical Psychology, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany, 3 Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Cologne, Germany Abstract Background: Although human beings regularly experience fictional worlds through activities such as reading novels and watching movies, little is known about what mechanisms underlie our implicit knowledge of the distinction between reality and fiction. The first neuroimaging study to address this issue revealed that the mere exposure to contexts involving real entities compared to fictional characters led to engagement of regions in the anterior medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices (amPFC, PCC). As these core regions of the brain’s default network are involved during self-referential processing and autobiographical memory retrieval, it was hypothesized that real entities may be conceptually coded as being more personally relevant to us than fictional characters. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we directly test the hypothesis that entity-associated personal relevance is the critical factor underlying the differential engagement of these brain regions by comparing the brain’s response when processing contexts involving family or friends (high relevance), famous people (medium relevance), or fictional characters (low relevance). In line with predictions, a gradient pattern of activation was o