Abstract
Recent research has revealed that self-referential processing enhances perceptual judgments — the so-called self-prioritization effect. The extent and origin of this effect remains unknown, however. Noting the multifaceted nature of the self, here we hypothesized that temporal influences on self-construal (i.e., past/future-self continuity) may serve as an important determinant of stimulus prioritization. Specifically, as representations of the self increase in abstraction as a function of temporal distance (i.e., distance from now), self-prioritization may only emerge when stimuli are associated with the current self. The results of three experiments supported this prediction. Self-relevance only enhanced performance in a standard perceptual-matching task when stimuli (i.e., geometric shapes) were connected with the current self; representations of the self in the future (Expts. 1 & 2) and past (Expt. 3) failed to facilitate decision making. To identify the processes underlying task performance, data were interrogated using a hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) approach. Results of these analyses revealed that self-prioritization was underpinned by a stimulus bias (i.e., rate of information uptake). Collectively, these findings elucidate when and how self-relevance influences decisional processing.
Highlights
Recent research has revealed that self-referential processing enhances perceptual judgments — the so-called self-prioritization effect
Noting fundamental temporal influences on self-construal (Hershfield, 2011; Mitchell et al, 2011; Pronin et al, 2008; Pronin & Ross, 2006; Wakslak et al, 2008)—that representations of the self increase in abstraction as a function of temporal distance—we expected the self-prioritization effect during perceptual matching to be restricted to geometric shapes associated with temporally proximate representations of the self. We explored this hypothesis in a standard perceptual matching task in which participants associated labels pertaining to the self and a stranger with various geometric shapes, judged whether subsequent shape-label pairings matched or mismatched the previously learned associations
Whereas the bootstrapped sample mean observations for selfnow matching judgments fell in the lower right corner of the figure, all other matching judgments fell in an upper middle location
Summary
Recent research has revealed that self-referential processing enhances perceptual judgments — the so-called self-prioritization effect. Attention has focused on two basic issues: elucidating how the self impacts cognition and decision making and identifying the neuroanatomical structures that support these activities (Blakemore & Robbins, 2012; Conway, 2005; Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Heatherton, 2011; Heatherton et al, 2004; Mezulis, Abramson, Hyde, & Hankin, 2004; Sali, Anderson, & Courtney, 2016; Sheppard, Malone, & Sweeny, 2008) Motivating these complementary lines of inquiry is the assumption that self-relevance (i.e., items associated with the self) exerts a potent influence on stimulus processing (Baumeister, 1998; Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000; Heatherton, 2011). It has been suggested that self-relevance triggers prioritized processing by enhancing the salience of stimuli (Humphreys & Sui, 2015; Sui & Humphreys, 2015; Sui, Liu, et al, 2013)
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