The Neuroscience of Identity

Human beings are biologically driven—that is, we are compelled by our natural drives. We seek friends and support, we seek a pair-bond or partner, we seek happiness, and we seek an identity. How does one find and construct an identity?

A Peek Below the Surface

UCLA neuroscientist Matt Lieberman shows that there are two parts of the prefrontal cortex used for processing information salient to the human identity—the medial prefrontal cortex, or mpfc (BA10) and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, or dmpfc (BA9) (Lieberman 2018). The mpfc is active during our default mode, or when we are not focused on the external environment, and biases us to shift our thinking to become egocentric, while the dmpfc is active when processing salient social information pertinent to one’s position in groups as well as the perspective of others. We quite literally process thoughts about ourselves and thoughts about others in different parts of the brain. This is a reflection of the dynamic and co-optive nature of identity.

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