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    Psychophysiology. 2008 Jul;45(4):511-5. Epub 2008 Feb 11.

    Attributions, deception, and event related potentials: an investigation of the self-serving bias.

    Krusemark EA, Keith Campbell W, Clementz BA.

    Department of Psychology, BioImaging Research Center, University of Georgia, 429 Psychology Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA. bdlisk@uga.edu

    Self-serving attributions occur when negative personal outcomes are ascribed to external circumstances and when positive outcomes are ascribed to internal factors. Individuals strategically employ the self-serving bias to maintain and protect positive self-views. The current study investigated the neural correlates of the self-serving bias using dense array EEG, giving 20 participants false (success or failure) feedback during a facial working memory task. Participants made self-serving attributions during the task, primarily following failure feedback. Voltage and source analyses in response to attribution stimuli revealed that, compared to self-serving responses, non-self-serving attributions were preceded by enhanced dorsomedial frontal cortex activity. This finding suggests that unbiased attributions require greater self-control, overriding the automatic tendency for self-enhancement.

    PMID: 18282197 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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