Zhuo Fang1,
2, Senhua Zhu1, 2, Hui Shi2, Siyuan Hu2,
Huajian Cai3, Marc Korczykowski2, Hengyi Rao1,
2
1Department
of psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, GuangZhou, GuangDong, China; 2Center
for functional Neuroimaging, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA,
United States; 3Institute of psychology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing, China
Recent neuroimaging research has demonstrated great interest in resting brain function. However, the exact function of brain default mode network (DMN) remains largely unknown. The present study used arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI to non-invasively measure resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in a large cohort of normal subjects (n=81) and examined the relationship between default brain function and self-esteem, a core component of the self. The results showed that self-esteem is positively correlated with regional CBF in the posterior DMN regions, supporting the view that self-introspective processes is associated with default brain function.