Abstract

Many studies in affective neuroimaging have addressed the question of how the "self" is represented in brain activation. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is implicated in many of these studies and an essential component self-representation in the brain. In this study we looked at differences between men and women in the mPFC in terms of how they assessed comparisons of the body image. Participants viewed images of thin and overweight bodies and were asked to consider how they would feel if someone were to compare them to the image. Brain activations were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results indicate that men did not react significantly differently to thin or overweight images while women showed increased mPFC activation when considering comparison to the overweight images. These findings provide some insight into the differences between men and women in terms of self-evaluation and body image.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2009-05-17

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd2926

Keywords

fMRI, mPFC, body image, self-evaluation, self-reflection, self, gender differences

Language

English

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