Abstract: Self-awareness refers to the inner subjective state of individual when he is aware of himself. Almost all tasks involved self may arouse self-awareness. Due to its complexity, there remain many disputes about the neural mechanism of self-awareness. The researches of neural mechanism proceed from cognitive neuropsychiatry and neural imaging. Many researches find that self-awareness activates the right hemisphere. Furthermore, some high-level tasks involve with inner speech activate the left hemisphere. Nowadays, more researchers consider the cortical middle structure plays important role in self-awareness. Specific tasks relate to self-awareness and social background should be paid more attention in the future study.

Key words: self-awareness, neural mechanism, CMS, cognitive neuroscience