Abstract
One’s own name seems to have a special status in the processing of incoming information. In event-related potential (ERP) studies this preferential status has mainly been associated with higher P300 to one’s own name than to other names. Some studies showed preferential responses to own name even for earlier ERP components. However, instead of just being self-specific, these effects could be related to the processing of any highly relevant and/or frequently encountered stimuli. If this is the case: (1) processing of other highly relevant and highly familiar names (e.g., names of friends, partners, siblings, etc.) should be associated with similar ERP responses as processing of one’s own name and (2) processing of own and close others’ names should result in larger amplitudes of early and late ERP components than processing of less relevant and less familiar names (e.g., names of famous people, names of strangers, etc.). To test this hypothesis we measured and analyzed ERPs from 62 scalp electrodes in 22 subjects. Subjects performed a speeded two-choice recognition task—familiar vs. unfamiliar—with one’s own name being treated as one of the familiar names. All stimuli were presented visually. We found that amplitudes of P200, N250 and P300 did not differ between one’s own and close-other’s names. Crucially, they were significantly larger to own and close-other’s names than to other names (unknown and famous for P300 and unknown for P200 and N250). Our findings suggest that preferential processing of one’s own name is due to its personal-relevance and/or familiarity factors. This pattern of results speaks for a common preference in processing of different kinds of socially relevant stimuli.
Highlights
The occurrence of our own name usually signals that some potentially important information will be directed to us
In our analyses we focused on scalp regions in which the above-mentioned event-related potential (ERP) components had their maximum amplitudes
The Pearson correlation method did not show any significant effects. The goal of this ERP study was to investigate whether enhanced ERP responses to own name are due to self-specific factors, or maybe more generally, due to the high relevance and/or high familiarity of this stimulus
Summary
The occurrence of our own name usually signals that some potentially important information (a warning, a threat, a praise, etc.) will be directed to us. Because this happens countless times throughout a lifetime, people probably start to respond to this stimulus in a highly preferential and automatic manner. Many studies have confirmed the special status of own name processing. Even 4–5 month-old infants prefer to listen to their own rather than other names (Mandel et al, 1995). Demented patients are able to recognize this specific stimulus, even when their perception of time and place is greatly deteriorated (Fishback, 1977). Own name has been shown to have strong attention grabbing properties (Cherry, 1953; Moray, 1959; Wolford and Morrison, 1980; Wood and Cowan, 1995; Shapiro et al, 1997; Arnell et al, 1999; Conway et al., 2001; but see Harris and Pashler, 2004; Kawahara and Yamada, 2004)
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