No Evidence for a Link between Self-Prioritization and Cognitive Control in Matching Judgments
Tue—Casino_1.801—Poster2—5001
Presented by: Felix Götz
Recent research has shown that self-referential primes (e.g., MY) reduce conflict interference in conflict tasks (e.g., Stroop), suggesting that self-prioritization processes may enhance processes of cognitive control in general (e.g., Dignath et al., 2022). So far, however, this interaction effect has only been shown in situations where the self-referential information was added to a typical conflict task, i.e. in which the self-reference was task-irrelevant. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the interaction would also extend to situations in which conflict stimuli were included in self-referential matching judgments, i.e. in which the self-referential information was task-relevant. To this end, we conducted three experiments using Eriksen-flanker stimuli in which the central and flanker letters ("H" vs. "S") were associated with either self-referential vs. other-/non-referential information ("I" vs. "STRANGER" in Experiment 1, "MY" vs. "THE" in Experiments 2 and 3). Critically, participants had to judge whether the central letter matched or mismatched the self-referential information (which was always presented above the central letter). In Experiment 3, the self- vs. non-referential stimuli were presented slightly before the Eriksen flanker stimuli, thus effectively priming participants with "MY" vs. "THE" before matching judgments were possible. In all three experiments, participants responded faster and with fewer errors in the self-relevant, congruent, and matching trials. In addition, self-prioritization effects were larger in matching vs. mismatching trials. Crucially, however, self-prioritization and congruency did not interact. Thus, the present research points to limitations of the proposed link between self-prioritization and cognitive control processes.
Keywords: Self-Prioritization, Cognitive Control, Conflict, Self-reference