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Identity: Linking Mental Files in the Brain| old_uid | 16755 |
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| title | Identity: Linking Mental Files in the Brain |
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| start_date | 2018/11/19 |
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| schedule | 12h |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | Bât. IDEE, Amphithéâte Margaux Hemingway |
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| details | Cycle des conférences 2018 |
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| summary | Identity management is a fundamental for tracking objects over time.
A mental file represents a particular object, tracks it and stores information about it. Ideally each encounter with a familiar object should activate its
existing file. But this is not always possible, e.g. if introduced like this, “Susi’s teacher is at school. Susi goes to visit her aunt,” we come to represent teacher and aunt with different files even when they happen to co-refer to a single person. To correct we need identity information, e.g., “Susi’s aunt is her te acher,” which is encoded by linking the two co-referential files.
Linking of co-referential files also occurs when processing mathematical equations, belatedly recognizing a familiar person, and dealing with different perspectives (e.g., false beliefs). We found a direct conjunction of activation for identity statements and equations in left dorsal inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and precuneus. This conjunction overlaps with activations when recognizing a person and when faced with different perspectives.
These overlaps provide a cognitive explanation for why left IPL forms a “hub” —a strongly connected area responding to different domains of knowledge: It is involved in processing identity, i.e., linking coreferential files. This also provides a cerebral basis for explaining why problems of identity and perspective are mastered at about 4 years. |
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| responsibles | CRNL |
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