Mine or mother’s? Exploring the self-ownership effect across cultures

The ownership memory self-reference effect shifts recognition criterion but not recognition sensitivity

Information referenced to the self is retrieved more accurately than information referenced to others, known as the memory self-reference effect. It is unclear, however, whether social context (identity of the other) or task factors alter decision-making processes. In a virtual object allocation task, female participants sorted objects into their own or another's (stranger or mother) basket based on a colour cue. Subsequently, they performed a recognition memory task in which they first indicated whether each object was old or new, and then whether it had been allocated to themselves or to the other. We obtained owner-specific hit rates and false-alarm rates and applied signal detection theory to derive separate recognition sensitivity (d') and recognition criterion parameters (c) for self- and other-owned objects. While there was no clear evidence of a recognition self-reference effect, or a change in sensitivity, participants adopted a more conservative recognition criterion for self- compared with other-owned objects, and particularly when the other-referent was the participant's mother compared with the stranger. Moreover, when discriminating whether the originally presented objects were self- or other-owned, participants were biased toward ascribing ownership to the 'other'. We speculate that these findings reflect ownership-based changes in decisional processing during the recognition memory self-reference paradigm.

Mine for life: Charting ownership effects in memory from adolescence to old age

This study investigates the self-reference effect (SRE) with an ownership memory task across several age groups, providing the first age exploration of implicit ownership memory biases from adolescence to older adulthood (N = 159). Using a well-established ownership task, participants were required to sort images of grocery items as belonging to themselves or to a fictitious unnamed Other. After sorting and a brief distractor task, participants completed a surprise one-step source memory test. Overall, there was a robust SRE, with greater source memory accuracy for self-owned items. The SRE attenuated with age, such that the magnitude of difference between self and other memory diminished into older adulthood. Importantly, these findings were not due to a deterioration of memory for self-owned items, but rather an increase in memory performance for other-owned items. Linear mixed effects analyses showed self-biases in reaction times, such that self-owned items were identified more rapidly compared with other owned items. Again, age interacted with this effect showing that the responses of older adults were slowed, especially for other-owned items. Several theoretical implications were drawn from these findings, but we suggest that older adults may not experience ownership-related biases to the same degree as younger adults. Consequently, SREs through the lens of mere ownership may attenuate with age.

Learning about me and you: Only deterministic stimulus associations elicit self-prioritization

Self-relevant material has been shown to be prioritized over stimuli relating to others (e.g., friend, stranger), generating benefits in attention, memory, and decision-making. What is not yet understood, however, is whether the conditions under which self-related knowledge is acquired impacts the emergence of self-bias. To address this matter, here we used an associative-learning paradigm in combination with a stimulus-classification task to explore the effects of different learning experiences (i.e., deterministic vs. probabilistic) on self-prioritization. The results revealed an effect of prior learning on task performance, with self-prioritization only emerging when participants acquired target-related associations (i.e., self vs. friend) under conditions of certainty (vs. uncertainty). A further computational (i.e., drift diffusion model) analysis indicated that differences in the efficiency of stimulus processing (i.e., rate of information uptake) underpinned this self-prioritization effect. The implications of these findings for accounts of self-function are considered.

Electrophysiological correlates of self-prioritization

Personally relevant stimuli exert a powerful influence on social cognition. What is not yet fully understood, however, is how early in the processing stream self-relevance influences decisional operations. Here we used a shape-label matching task in conjunction with electroencephalography and computational modeling to explore this issue. A theoretically important pattern of results was observed. First, a standard self-prioritization effect emerged indicating that responses to self-related items were faster and more accurate than responses to other-related stimuli. Second, a hierarchical drift diffusion model analysis revealed that this effect was underpinned by the enhanced uptake of evidence from self-related stimuli. Third, self-other discrimination during matching trials was observed at both early posterior N1 and late centro-parietal P3 components. Fourth, whereas the N1 was associated with the rate of information accumulation during decisional processing, P3 activity was linked with the evidential requirements of response selection. These findings elucidate the electrophysiological correlates of self-prioritization.

Knock yourself out: Brief mindfulness-based meditation eliminates self-prioritization

Recent research has asserted that self-prioritization is an inescapable facet of mental life, but is this viewpoint correct? Acknowledging the flexibility of social-cognitive functioning, here we considered the extent to which mindfulness-based meditation-an intervention known to reduce egocentric responding-attenuates self-bias. Across two experiments (Expt. 1, N = 160; Expt. 2, N = 160), using an object-classification task, participants reported the ownership of previously assigned items (i.e., owned-by-self vs. owned-by-friend) following a 5-minute period of mindfulness-based meditation compared with control meditation (Expt. 1) or no meditation (Expt. 2). The results revealed that mindfulness meditation abolished the emergence of the self-ownership effect during decision-making. An additional computational (i.e., drift diffusion model) analysis indicated that mindfulness meditation eliminated a prestimulus bias toward self-relevant (vs. friend-relevant) responses, increased response caution, and facilitated the rate at which evidence was accumulated from friend-related (vs. self-related) objects. Collectively, these findings elucidate the stimulus and response-related operations through which brief mindfulness-based meditation tempers self-prioritization.

Sticky me: Self-relevance slows reinforcement learning

A prominent facet of social-cognitive functioning is that self-relevant information is prioritized in perception, attention, and memory. What is not yet understood, however, is whether similar effects arise during learning. In particular, compared to other people (e.g., best friend) is information about the self acquired more rapidly? To explore this matter, here we used a probabilistic selection task in combination with computational modeling (i.e., Reinforcement Learning Drift Diffusion Model analysis) to establish how self-relevance influences learning under conditions of uncertainty (i.e., choices are based on the perceived likelihood of positive and negative outcomes). Across two experiments, a consistent pattern of effects was observed. First, learning rates for both positive and negative prediction errors were slower for self-relevant compared to friend-relevant associations. Second, self-relevant (vs. friend-relevant) learning was characterized by the exploitation (vs. exploration) of choice selections. That is, in a complex (i.e., probabilistic) decision-making environment, previously rewarded self-related outcomes were selected more often than novel - but potentially riskier - alternatives. The implications of these findings for accounts of self-function are considered.

More or less of me and you: self-relevance augments the effects of item probability on stimulus prioritization

Self-relevance exerts a powerful influence on information processing. Compared to material associated with other people, personally meaningful stimuli are prioritized during decision-making. Further exploring the character of this effect, here we considered the extent to which stimulus enhancement is impacted by the frequency of self-relevant versus friend-relevant material. In a matching task, participants reported whether shape-label stimulus pairs corresponded to previously learned associations (e.g., triangle = self, square = friend). Crucially however, before the task commenced, stimulus-based expectancies were provided indicating the probability with which both self- and friend-related shapes would be encountered. The results revealed that task performance was impacted by the frequency of stimulus presentation in combination with the personal relevance of the items. When self- and friend-related shapes appeared with equal frequencies, a self-prioritization effect emerged (Expt. 1). Additionally, in both confirmatory (Expt. 2) and dis-confirmatory (Expt. 3) task contexts, stimuli that were encountered frequently (vs. infrequently) were prioritized, an effect that was most pronounced for self-relevant (vs. friend-relevant) items. Further computational analyses indicated that, in each of the reported experiments, differences in performance were underpinned by variation in the rate of information uptake, with evidence extracted more rapidly from self-relevant compared to friend-relevant stimuli. These findings advance our understanding of the emergence and origin of stimulus-prioritization effects during decisional processing.

Yes! I love my mother as much as myself: Self- and mother-association effects in an Indian sample

Information associated with the self is preferentially processed compared to information associated with others. However, cultural differences appear to exist in the way information is processed about those close to us like our mothers. In Eastern compared with Western cultures, information about the mother seems to be processed as well as our self. However, it is not clear whether this lack of difference is due to familiarity or would extend to processing arbitrary perceptual information associated with different categorical labels. The current study employs a perceptual association paradigm in which category labels like self, mother, and none are associated with arbitrary shapes to study self versus mother processing in an Indian sample. We hypothesised that there would be no difference between self and mother processing given the familial and collectivistic tendencies in India. Participants in two experiments performed a matching task between a shape and a pre-assigned category label, with self, mother, and none as categories in Experiment 1A and self, friend, and none as categories in Experiment 1B. As expected, analysis of response times (RT), accuracies, and signal detection theoretic measures showed that information about mother is processed as well as self in Experiment 1A, but this effect is not present with friend in Experiment 1B. Moreover, participants' processing for the self-associated information gets attenuated depending upon the other close person category used in the task (friend vs. mother) indicating that self-information processing is dynamically dependent on the categorical contexts in which such processing takes place. Our findings have implications for understanding the processing of self-associated information across cultures and contexts.

On stopping yourself: Self-relevance facilitates response inhibition

It is well documented that stimuli associated with the self are easier to process than identical material paired with other people (i.e., self-prioritization effect). Surprisingly, however, relatively little is known about how self-relevance impacts core aspects of executive functioning, notably response inhibition. Accordingly, here we used a stop-signal task to establish how effectively responses toward self-relevant (vs. other-relevant) stimuli can intentionally be inhibited. In the context of personal possession, participants were required to classify stimuli (i.e., pens and pencils) based on ownership (i.e., owned-by-self vs. owned-by-friend/stranger), unless an occasional auditory tone indicated that the response should be withheld. The results revealed the benefits of self-relevance on response inhibition. Compared with items owned by a friend or stranger, responses to self-owned objects were inhibited more efficiently. These findings confirm that self-relevance facilitates executive control.

Affective compatibility with the self modulates the self-prioritisation effect

The "self" shapes the way in which we process the world around us. It makes sense then, that self-related information is reliably prioritised over non self-related information in cognition. How might other factors such as self-compatibility shape the way self-relevant information is prioritised? The present work asks whether affective consistency between the self and arbitrarily self-associated stimuli influences the degree to which self-prioritisation can be observed. To this end, participants were asked to associate themselves with either a positive or a negative concept and to then indicate if a given stimulus (Experiment 1: Emotional faces; Experiment 2: Luminance cues) and an identity label matched. If affective consistency is key to self-prioritisation, negative constructs should dampen self-prioritisation and positive constructs should boost self-prioritisation because the self is universally construed as positive. Indeed, the results of the two experiments indicate that participants who made the negative association had more difficulty confirming whether the stimulus and the label matched than those who made the positive association. The implications of this finding are discussed in terms of "self" theories that span various levels of information processing. The data reveal that self-referential information processing goes beyond a default elevation of priority to the self.

It's not always about me: The effects of prior beliefs and stimulus prevalence on self-other prioritisation

Although self-relevance is widely acknowledged to enhance stimulus processing, the exclusivity of this effect remains open to question. In particular, in commonly adopted experimental paradigms, the prioritisation of self-relevant (vs. other-relevant) material may reflect the operation of a task-specific strategy rather than an obligatory facet of social-cognitive functioning. By changing basic aspects of the decisional context, it may therefore be possible to generate stimulus-prioritisation effects for targets other than the self. Based on the demonstration that ownership facilitates object categorisation (i.e., self-ownership effect), here we showed that stimulus prioritisation is sensitive to prior expectations about the prevalence of forthcoming objects (owned-by-self vs. owned-by-friend) and whether these beliefs are supported during the task. Under conditions of stimulus uncertainty (i.e., no prior beliefs), replicating previous research, objects were classified more rapidly when owned-by-self compared with owned-by-friend (Experiment 1). When, however, the frequency of stimulus presentation either confirmed (Experiment 2) or disconfirmed (Experiment 3) prior expectations, stimulus prioritisation was observed for the most prevalent objects regardless of their owner. A hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) analysis further revealed that decisional bias was underpinned by differences in the evidential requirements of response generation. These findings underscore the flexibility of ownership effects (i.e., stimulus prioritisation) during object processing.

Self-relevance enhances evidence gathering during decision-making

Despite repeated demonstrations that self-relevant material is prioritized during stimulus appraisal, a number of unresolved issues remain. In particular, it is unclear if self-relevance facilitates task performance when stimuli are encountered under challenging processing conditions. To explore this issue, using a backward masking procedure, here participants were required to report if briefly presented objects (pencils and pens) had previously been assigned to the self or a best friend (i.e., object-ownership task). The results yielded a standard self-ownership effect, such that responses were faster and more accurate to self-owned (vs. friend-owned) objects. In addition, a drift diffusion model analysis indicated that this effect was underpinned by a stimulus bias. Specifically, evidence was accumulated more rapidly from self-owned compared to friend-owned stimuli. These findings further elucidate the extent and origin of self-prioritization during decisional processing.

Valence and ownership: object desirability influences self-prioritization

Research has demonstrated that possession exerts a potent influence on stimulus processing, such that objects are categorized more rapidly when owned-by-self than when they belong to other people. Outstanding theoretical questions remain, however, regarding the extent of this self-prioritization effect. In particular, does ownership enhance the processing of objects regardless of their valence or is self-prioritization restricted to only desirable items? To address this issue, here we explored the speed with which participants categorized objects (i.e., desirable and undesirable posters) that ostensibly belonged to the self and a best friend. In addition, to identify the cognitive processes supporting task performance, data were submitted to a hierarchical drift-diffusion model (HDDM) analysis. The results revealed a self-prioritization effect (i.e., RT_self < RT_friend) for desirable posters that was underpinned by differences in the efficiency of stimulus processing. Specifically, decisional evidence was extracted more rapidly from self-owned posters when they were desirable than undesirable, an effect that was reversed for friend-owned posters. These findings advance understanding of when and how valence influences self-prioritization during decisional processing.

Predictably confirmatory: The influence of stereotypes during decisional processing

Stereotypes facilitate the processing of expectancy-consistent (vs expectancy-inconsistent) information, yet the underlying origin of this congruency effect remains unknown. As such, here we sought to identify the cognitive operations through which stereotypes influence decisional processing. In six experiments, participants responded to stimuli that were consistent or inconsistent with respect to prevailing gender stereotypes. To identify the processes underpinning task performance, responses were submitted to a hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) analysis. A consistent pattern of results emerged. Whether manipulated at the level of occupational (Expts. 1, 3, and 5) or trait-based (Expts. 2, 4, and 6) expectancies, stereotypes facilitated task performance and influenced decisional processing via a combination of response and stimulus biases. Specifically, (1) stereotype-consistent stimuli were classified more rapidly than stereotype-inconsistent stimuli; (2) stereotypic responses were favoured over counter-stereotypic responses (i.e., starting-point shift towards stereotypic responses); (3) less evidence was required when responding to stereotypic than counter-stereotypic stimuli (i.e., narrower threshold separation for stereotypic stimuli); and (4) decisional evidence was accumulated more efficiently for stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent stimuli and when targets had a typical than atypical facial appearance. Collectively, these findings elucidate how stereotypes influence person construal.