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Self-other control
In psychology, self-other control, also known as self-other distinction, denotes the capacity to discern between one's own and other individuals' physical and mental states—actions, perceptions, and emotions.[note 1]
The right temporoparietal junction plays an important role in distinguishing the self and others as separate identities. Mental disorders, like schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder, have been associated to either excesses or deficits of self-other control. In cases of deficits, symptoms such as motor imitation and emotional contagion might be present; excesses can result in personal distress, paranoia, motor tics and compulsions.
Self-other control is crucial to the process of empathy; it permits to put apart one's thought from the others. When low self-other control is present, transcranial direct-current stimulation and imitation-inhibition training have been suggested as a potential way to augment it.
During interactions, we continually process evolving social details, such as actions, viewpoints, beliefs, and emotions. Research indicates that our brain activates similar neural patterns as it does when we experience these events ourselves. This occurs due to connections between how others and ourselves are perceived. These mirror processes can lead to possible conflicts between our self-perceptions and our perceptions of others, necessitating the need for self-control in social interactions.
The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) plays a role in several cognitive functions. It has been linked to shifting attention towards relevant stimulus, comparing internal expectations with external occurrences, and facilitating a comprehensive, multi-sensory understanding of social situations.
The rTPJ utilizes these mechanisms to represent the social context by treating both the self and others as distinct entities. This allows it to make predictions about event outcomes and agent behaviors. These predictions, along with the internal models it generates, guide our focus toward socially significant cues, especially those that deviate from our expectations. This process of gathering new information is then employed to modify our representations of self and others and to update our internal models.
In cases where the representations of the self and other mismatch, it is thought that the rTPJ and prefrontal structures support each other to reinforce the self/other action goal with the intrusion of the other/self's goal. Another theory is that self-other control is achieved by suppressing those which interfere with it. Finally, self-other control may be achieved neither by amplifying nor suppressing self- or other-related representations, but by a more accurate 'tagging' of which representations belong to the self and which to the other.
Empathy comprises self-other control and shared representation of oneself and others. The shared representation involves our ability to understand another person's emotions through our own bodily and brain functions, facilitating empathy. Self-other control becomes crucial in this process, as it enables us to differentiate one's thoughts from those of the other person. Accurate self-other control is needed either to avoid the occurrence of personal distress due to the another's negative affective state or to prevent our own affective state egocentrically biasing how we empathize with others. Self-other control is also helpful in other similar processes, such as theory of mind and perspective-taking.
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Self-other control AI simulator
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Self-other control
In psychology, self-other control, also known as self-other distinction, denotes the capacity to discern between one's own and other individuals' physical and mental states—actions, perceptions, and emotions.[note 1]
The right temporoparietal junction plays an important role in distinguishing the self and others as separate identities. Mental disorders, like schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder, have been associated to either excesses or deficits of self-other control. In cases of deficits, symptoms such as motor imitation and emotional contagion might be present; excesses can result in personal distress, paranoia, motor tics and compulsions.
Self-other control is crucial to the process of empathy; it permits to put apart one's thought from the others. When low self-other control is present, transcranial direct-current stimulation and imitation-inhibition training have been suggested as a potential way to augment it.
During interactions, we continually process evolving social details, such as actions, viewpoints, beliefs, and emotions. Research indicates that our brain activates similar neural patterns as it does when we experience these events ourselves. This occurs due to connections between how others and ourselves are perceived. These mirror processes can lead to possible conflicts between our self-perceptions and our perceptions of others, necessitating the need for self-control in social interactions.
The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) plays a role in several cognitive functions. It has been linked to shifting attention towards relevant stimulus, comparing internal expectations with external occurrences, and facilitating a comprehensive, multi-sensory understanding of social situations.
The rTPJ utilizes these mechanisms to represent the social context by treating both the self and others as distinct entities. This allows it to make predictions about event outcomes and agent behaviors. These predictions, along with the internal models it generates, guide our focus toward socially significant cues, especially those that deviate from our expectations. This process of gathering new information is then employed to modify our representations of self and others and to update our internal models.
In cases where the representations of the self and other mismatch, it is thought that the rTPJ and prefrontal structures support each other to reinforce the self/other action goal with the intrusion of the other/self's goal. Another theory is that self-other control is achieved by suppressing those which interfere with it. Finally, self-other control may be achieved neither by amplifying nor suppressing self- or other-related representations, but by a more accurate 'tagging' of which representations belong to the self and which to the other.
Empathy comprises self-other control and shared representation of oneself and others. The shared representation involves our ability to understand another person's emotions through our own bodily and brain functions, facilitating empathy. Self-other control becomes crucial in this process, as it enables us to differentiate one's thoughts from those of the other person. Accurate self-other control is needed either to avoid the occurrence of personal distress due to the another's negative affective state or to prevent our own affective state egocentrically biasing how we empathize with others. Self-other control is also helpful in other similar processes, such as theory of mind and perspective-taking.