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At the very heart of your identity, a core of self-awareness combines memories of the past with fleeting sensations of the present, and adds a touch of anticipation for the future.
The question of whether this permanent sense of “you” is as robust as it seems has intrigued philosophers and psychologists throughout the ages. A new, small psychobiological study kicks in, looking at brain scans to conclude that at least part of you is indeed consistent as you grow older and older.
“In our study, we tried to answer the question of whether we are the same person throughout our lives,” explains Miguel Rubianes, neuroscientist at the Complutense University of Madrid.
“In conjunction with the previous literature, our results indicate that there is one component that remains stable while another part is more likely to change over time.”
Self-continuity forms the very basis of identity. Whenever you use the word “I” you are referring to a thread that throws a series of experiences into a tapestry of a lifetime, representing a relationship between the self of your youth and another to emerge.
Yet identity is more than the sum of its parts. Consider the allegory of Theseus’ vessel, or the paradox of the grandfather’s ax – a tool whose shaft has been replaced, as well as its head, but which is still sort of the same ax that belonged to grandfather. .
If our experiences change us, exchanging components of our identity with every heartbreak and promotion, illness and windfall, can we really still say that we see ourselves as the same person today as we were? when we were four?
You can be forgiven for thinking that this sounds more like a philosophical navel than something that science can tackle. But there are perspectives that psychology – and even the wiring of our neurological programming – can flesh out.
Rubianes and his team mainly focused on the “ how and when ” of neurology dealing with familiar faces, building on previous research that suggests visual self-recognition may function as an indicator of connection with the impression of self.
In what is known as the self-reference effect, we do a better job of recalling or recognizing information if it is personally related to us in some way, such as seeing our own face. on a photo.
Although there is ample evidence to support the existence of the phenomenon, the exact time and mechanisms of the process in our brain remain an open question.
Conflicting studies have found different neurological processes to distinguish our own face from others, for example, each highlighting various regions of the brain used to recognize and assign meaning to sets of familiar characteristics.
Determining the types of neurological activity involved can tell us whether we are simply triggered by recognition of our own face, such as meeting an old friend, or whether we are making a real connection with the self it represents, past and present.
To solve this problem, the team conducted a reconnaissance task with a group of 20 students. Each was presented with 27 images, including some of their own face, the face of a close friend, and an unfamiliar face, all from different stages of life.
Each image flashed on a screen one second at a time, during which the participant had to press a button to identify who they were seeing: themselves, a friend or a stranger. A second test asked them to identify the stage of the person’s life: childhood, adolescence or adulthood.
Meanwhile, dozens of electrodes were busy delineating the mixture of brain waves buzzing with their gray matter, painting a map of activity.
This map, and the timing of participants’ responses, strongly suggests that our sense of self – this sense of “I” – is updated throughout our lives, giving it stability. We really treat this troubled portrait of us in fourth grade as ourselves, and not just the familiar image of a child sharing our memories.
The study also revealed interesting similarities in the way we process impressions of our past selves and that of our close friend, hinting at a complexity in how time might shape impressions of our identity.
Of course, it’s important to note that this study was conducted on a small sample and is far from the last word on the subject.
But finding that there is a rigid neurological basis for our sense of self that is altered over time and experience mirrors other studies that suggest that there are also cultural influences on how we perceive identity. .
Significantly, neurological descriptions of the specific brain bits responsible for sorting out the stranger’s self may help us better understand why some people don’t share this impression.
Disturbances in this thread of recognition often define conditions such as schizophrenia, placing individuals at increased risk for self-harm.
“This demonstrates the importance of basic and clinical research in studying the role of personal identity, as it promises to be a much more important concept than previously thought and could play a fundamental role in psychological assessment and intervention process, ”says Rubianes.
Some days we all feel a little unsure of who we are. Rest assured, there’s a good chance that deep in your brain you are still there.
This research was published in Psychophysiology.
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