Figure 1.
Schematic diagram of the experimental paradigm in the fMRI study.
During a thinking phase, participants were instructed to think about how the right-hand person would reply in response to the remark by the left-hand person. In the answer phase, participants selected an answer from three candidates. Panels show a sample of the ego-blocking condition (left) and the superego-blocking condition (middle). In the control condition, participants were required to think about the answer to a question given by the right-hand person (right). Cartoon drawings in the figure were retrieved from the Manual for PF Study [30]. Permission to use was given by Sankyobo Ltd.
Figure 2.
Brain regions showing greater activation in the ego-blocking condition than the control condition and in the superego-blocking condition than the control condition.
DMPFC: Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, VLPFC: Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, TPJ: Temporoparietal junction, STS: Superior temporal sulcus. Brain images were templates embedded in SPM, whose use was permitted for a non-profit purpose.
Table 1.
Brain regions showing greater activation in the ego-blocking condition than the control condition (p<.001 uncorrected, cluster >10 voxels).
Table 2.
Brain regions showing greater activation in the superego-blocking condition than the control condition (p<.001 uncorrected, cluster >10 voxels).
Figure 3.
Activation contrast between the ego-blocking condition and the superego-blocking condition.
TPJ: Temporoparietal junction, STS: Superior temporal sulcus, MFG/IFG: Middle/Inferior frontal gyrus, SPL: Superior parietal lobe, IPL: Inferior parietal lobule. Brain images were the templates embedded in the SPM, and its usage was permitted for a non-profit purpose.
Table 3.
Comparison of brain activation in the ego-blocking condition and the superego-blocking condition (p<.001 uncorrected, cluster >10 voxels).
Figure 4.
Comparisons of brain activation between extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals in the ego-blocking condition.
Extrapunitive individuals showed greater activation in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex than intropunitive individuals. On the other hand, intropunitive individuals showed greater activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex than extrapunitive individuals. Brain images were the templates embedded in the SPM, and its usage was permitted for a non-profit purpose.
Table 4.
Comparison of brain activation between extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals in the ego-blocking condition (p<.001 uncorrected, cluster >10 voxels).
Figure 5.
Brain regions showing interactive activation between the frustration condition and the punitive group.
The intropunitive group showed greater activation in the superego-blocking condition than in the ego-blocking condition. No difference in activity was observed in the extrapunitive group.