Abstract
Recent research has suggested that self-relevance automatically enhances stimulus processing (i.e., the self-prioritization effect). Notably, information associated with one’s self elicits faster responses than comparable material associated with other targets (e.g., friend, stranger). Challenging the assertion that self-prioritization is an obligatory process, here we hypothesized that self-relevance only facilitates performance when task sets draw attention to previously formed target-object associations. The results of two experiments were consistent with this viewpoint. Compared with arbitrary objects owned by a friend, those owned by the self were classified more rapidly when participants were required to report either the owner or identity of the items (i.e., semantic task set). In contrast, self-relevance failed to facilitate performance when participants judged the orientation of the stimuli (i.e., perceptual task set). These findings demonstrate the conditional automaticity of self-prioritization during stimulus processing.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 46-51 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Visual Cognition |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 1 Mar 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- self-relevance
- self-prioritization
- ownership
- automaticity
- task sets
- Self-relevance
- responses
- social salience