Relating introspective accuracy to individual differences in brain structure

Science. 2010 Sep 17;329(5998):1541-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1191883.

Abstract

The ability to introspect about self-performance is key to human subjective experience, but the neuroanatomical basis of this ability is unknown. Such accurate introspection requires discriminating correct decisions from incorrect ones, a capacity that varies substantially across individuals. We dissociated variation in introspective ability from objective performance in a simple perceptual-decision task, allowing us to determine whether this interindividual variability was associated with a distinct neural basis. We show that introspective ability is correlated with gray matter volume in the anterior prefrontal cortex, a region that shows marked evolutionary development in humans. Moreover, interindividual variation in introspective ability is also correlated with white-matter microstructure connected with this area of the prefrontal cortex. Our findings point to a focal neuroanatomical substrate for introspective ability, a substrate distinct from that supporting primary perception.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cognition*
  • Corpus Callosum / anatomy & histology*
  • Decision Making*
  • Humans
  • Judgment*
  • Male
  • Prefrontal Cortex / anatomy & histology*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
  • ROC Curve
  • Thinking*
  • Visual Perception*
  • Young Adult