Network Neuroanatomy of Self-Awareness: A Narrative Review of Self-Referential Processing, Metacognition, and Embodiment.
- 1Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
- 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of West Attica, Athens, GRC.
Abstract
Self-awareness encompasses the capacity to recognize and evaluate information about oneself, including mental states, actions, autobiographical history, and bodily experience. Although closely related to consciousness, autobiographical memory, metacognition, clinical insight, anosognosia, and bodily self-consciousness, these constructs are not interchangeable. This focused narrative review synthesizes human neuroanatomical and neuroimaging evidence identified through a targeted PubMed/MEDLINE search covering January 1997 to August 15, 2026, supplemented by reference-chain searching. To improve methodological transparency, the revised review specifies eligibility principles, the narrative synthesis strategy, and reproducible domain-specific Boolean search strings; because the article is a narrative rather than a systematic review, no protocol registration, PRISMA screening flow, formal study-level risk-of-bias assessment, or quantitative pooling was undertaken. The evidence is organized into four interacting domains: self-referential representation, autobiographical continuity, metacognitive monitoring, and embodied self-processing. Cortical midline and default mode regions are prominent in self-referential evaluation; medial temporal systems support autobiographical information; anterior and lateral prefrontal and frontoparietal regions contribute to monitoring and updating; and temporoparietal, precuneal, insular, and sensorimotor regions contribute to bodily self-processing. Importantly, these macroscopic territories overlap and contain functionally heterogeneous subregions, so the proposed mappings represent network-weighted tendencies rather than one-to-one anatomical assignments. Clinical findings further show that anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease, impaired insight in schizophrenia, altered self-experience in depersonalization-derealization disorder, and awareness deficits after acquired brain injury (ABI) involve different combinations of these processes. We therefore propose a representation-memory-monitoring-embodiment framework as a heuristic neuroanatomical synthesis, not a diagnostic or treatment model. Its value lies in separating constructs often grouped under the term self-awareness and in generating testable hypotheses for longitudinal multimodal imaging, lesion mapping, causal studies, and construct-matched interventions.
Related
- Altered Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Self-Referential Processing in Bipolar Disorder
- Self-Referential Social Processing in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: Advancing Theoretical Precision and Clinical Insights with Model-Based Neuroscience
- Knowledge and awareness of sensory processing disorder and sensory-adapted dental care among pediatric dentists: A cross-sectional survey
- 3D-Printed Models as Catalysts for Neuroanatomy Learning: An Immersive Educational Experience for Medical Students
- Novel Creation of Three-Dimensional Virtual Reality Neuroanatomy Specimens Through Freely-Available Software.
BibTeX
@article{kandilas2026network,
title = {{Network Neuroanatomy of Self-Awareness: A Narrative Review of Self-Referential Processing, Metacognition, and Embodiment.}},
author = {Angelos Kandilas and Alexandros Samolis and Theodosis Kalamatianos and Ioannis Margaritis and George Tsakotos and George Triantafyllou and Maria Piagkou},
journal = {Cureus},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.7759/cureus.116848},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927368},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Network Neuroanatomy of Self-Awareness: A Narrative Review of Self-Referential Processing, Metacognition, and Embodiment.
AU - Angelos Kandilas
AU - Alexandros Samolis
AU - Theodosis Kalamatianos
AU - Ioannis Margaritis
AU - George Tsakotos
AU - George Triantafyllou
AU - Maria Piagkou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
JO - Cureus
DO - 10.7759/cureus.116848
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927368
AB - Self-awareness encompasses the capacity to recognize and evaluate information about oneself, including mental states, actions, autobiographical history, and bodily experience. Although closely related to consciousness, autobiographical memory, metacognition, clinical insight, anosognosia, and bodily self-consciousness, these constructs are not interchangeable. This focused narrative review synthesizes human neuroanatomical and neuroimaging evidence identified through a targeted PubMed/MEDLINE search covering January 1997 to August 15, 2026, supplemented by reference-chain searching. To improve methodological transparency, the revised review specifies eligibility principles, the narrative synthesis strategy, and reproducible domain-specific Boolean search strings; because the article is a narrative rather than a systematic review, no protocol registration, PRISMA screening flow, formal study-level risk-of-bias assessment, or quantitative pooling was undertaken. The evidence is organized into four interacting domains: self-referential representation, autobiographical continuity, metacognitive monitoring, and embodied self-processing. Cortical midline and default mode regions are prominent in self-referential evaluation; medial temporal systems support autobiographical information; anterior and lateral prefrontal and frontoparietal regions contribute to monitoring and updating; and temporoparietal, precuneal, insular, and sensorimotor regions contribute to bodily self-processing. Importantly, these macroscopic territories overlap and contain functionally heterogeneous subregions, so the proposed mappings represent network-weighted tendencies rather than one-to-one anatomical assignments. Clinical findings further show that anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease, impaired insight in schizophrenia, altered self-experience in depersonalization-derealization disorder, and awareness deficits after acquired brain injury (ABI) involve different combinations of these processes. We therefore propose a representation-memory-monitoring-embodiment framework as a heuristic neuroanatomical synthesis, not a diagnostic or treatment model. Its value lies in separating constructs often grouped under the term self-awareness and in generating testable hypotheses for longitudinal multimodal imaging, lesion mapping, causal studies, and construct-matched interventions.
SN - 2168-8184
ER -