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In Search of Integrative Processes: Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Predicts Medial Prefrontal Activation During Decisional Conflict
Journal article   Peer reviewed

In Search of Integrative Processes: Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Predicts Medial Prefrontal Activation During Decisional Conflict

Stefano I Di Domenico, Marc A Fournier, Hasan Ayaz and Anthony C Ruocco
Journal of experimental psychology. General, v 142(3), pp 967-978
Aug 2013
PMID: 23067061

Abstract

medial prefrontal cortex self-referential processing self-determination theory basic psychological needs
Research has shown that people's abilities to develop and act from a coherent sense of self are facilitated by satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The present study utilized functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the effect of need satisfaction on activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), a key region in processing information about the self. Participants completed a decision-making task (e.g., Which occupation would you prefer, dancer or chemist?) in which they made a series of forced choices according to their personal preferences. The degree of decisional conflict (i.e., choice difficulty) between the available response options was manipulated on the basis of participants' unique preference ratings for the target stimuli, which were obtained prior to scanning. Need satisfaction predicted elevated MPFC activity during high-conflict relative to low-conflict situations, suggesting that one way need satisfaction may promote self-coherence is by enhancing the utilization of self-knowledge in the resolution of decisional conflicts.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Psychology, Experimental
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