Self-construal priming modulates visual activity underlying global/local perception

Abstract

Behavioral studies suggest that self-construals play a key role in modulation of cognitive processing styles, leading to context-dependent or -independent mode of processing. The current work investigated whether the neural activity in the extrastriate cortex underlying global/local perception of compound stimuli can be modulated by self-construal priming that shifts self-construal towards the Eastern interdependent or Western independent self in Chinese participants. After primed with independent or interdependent self-construals, subjects were asked to discriminate global/local letters in a compound stimulus while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. We found that, while the independent self-construal priming resulted in enlarged P1 amplitude to local than global targets at lateral occipital electrodes, a reverse pattern was observed after the interdependent self-construal priming. Our findings provide electrophysiological evidence that self-construal priming modulates visual perceptual processing in the extrastriate cortex.