Brain activation when hearing one's own and others' names.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain activation patterns were examined in response to hearing one's own first name in contrast to hearing the names of others. There are several regions in the left hemisphere that show greater activation to one's own name, including middle frontal cortex, middle and superior temporal cortex, and cuneus. These findings provide evidence that hearing one's own name has unique brain functioning activation specific to one's own name in relation to the names of others.