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Hou Y, Gao W, Guo X. Differences in attentional bias between self-related information and external cues from others in individuals with social anxiety: An event-related potential study. Brain Res 2024; 1845:149199. [PMID: 39187054 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 07/11/2024] [Accepted: 08/23/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
Individuals with high social anxiety show a more considerable attentional bias toward self-relevant information and outwardly threatening stimuli than do those with low social anxiety. Some studies have investigated the attentional bias between self-relevant information and external social cues in people with high social anxiety but have not reached consistent conclusions. This study used a modified dot-probe task and collected temporal and electroencephalogram responses to three self-other face pairs among 15 people with high social anxiety and 20 people with low social anxiety. Both groups responded quicker to self-relevant information than external social cues. Others' emotional potencies moderated the attentional bias. Individuals with high social anxiety exhibited larger P1 amplitudes and smaller N170 amplitudes (mainly in the right hemisphere) for all face pairs and larger P2 amplitudes for the self-neutral and other-angry face pairs than those with low social anxiety. These findings suggest that people with social anxiety prioritize allocating attentional resources to self-relevant information, with others' angry faces having the greatest influence on the allocation. Individuals with high social anxiety initially exhibit more attentional vigilance and less structural coding for face pairs, followed by heightened engagement with threatening cues compared to those with low social anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaxian Hou
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, Liaoning 116029, China
| | - Wen Gao
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, Liaoning 116029, China.
| | - Xiaoxiao Guo
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, Liaoning 116029, China
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2
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Orłowski P, Hobot J, Ruban A, Szczypiński J, Bola M. Naturalistic use of psychedelics does not modulate processing of self-related stimuli (but it might modulate attentional mechanisms): An event-related potentials study. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14583. [PMID: 38584307 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Classic psychedelics are able to profoundly alter the state of consciousness and lead to acute experiences of ego dissolution - the blurring of the distinction between representations of self and the external world. However, whether repeated use of psychedelics is associated with more prolonged and permanent modifications to the concept of self remains to be investigated. Therefore, we conducted a preregistered, cross-sectional study in which experienced psychedelics users (15 or more lifetime experiences with psychedelics; N = 56) were compared to nonusers (N = 57) in terms of neural reactivity to a Self-name (i.e., each participant's own name) stimulus, which is known to robustly activate a representation of self. Two control stimuli were additionally used: an Other-name stimulus, as a passive control condition in which no reaction was required, and a Target-name stimulus, to which participants provided a manual response and which thus constituted an active control condition. Analysis of the amplitude of the P300 ERP component evoked by the Self- or Target-names revealed no difference between the psychedelics users and nonusers. However, psychedelic users exhibited increased P300 amplitude during perception of Other-names. In addition, in comparison to nonusers, psychedelics users exhibited a smaller increase in P300 amplitude when processing the task-relevant Target-names (in relation to both Self- and Other-names). Therefore, our data suggests that regular naturalistic use of psychedelics may not be related to long-term changes in the representation of self, but it might potentially affect the allocation of attentional resources to task-relevant stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paweł Orłowski
- Centre for Brain Research, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
- Doctoral School in the Social Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Justyna Hobot
- Consciousness Lab, Psychology Institute, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Anastasia Ruban
- Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jan Szczypiński
- Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Michał Bola
- Centre for Brain Research, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
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3
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Rubianes M, Drijvers L, Muñoz F, Jiménez-Ortega L, Almeida-Rivera T, Sánchez-García J, Fondevila S, Casado P, Martín-Loeches M. The Self-reference Effect Can Modulate Language Syntactic Processing Even Without Explicit Awareness: An Electroencephalography Study. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:460-474. [PMID: 38165746 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2024]
Abstract
Although it is well established that self-related information can rapidly capture our attention and bias cognitive functioning, whether this self-bias can affect language processing remains largely unknown. In addition, there is an ongoing debate as to the functional independence of language processes, notably regarding the syntactic domain. Hence, this study investigated the influence of self-related content on syntactic speech processing. Participants listened to sentences that could contain morphosyntactic anomalies while the masked face identity (self, friend, or unknown faces) was presented for 16 msec preceding the critical word. The language-related ERP components (left anterior negativity [LAN] and P600) appeared for all identity conditions. However, the largest LAN effect followed by a reduced P600 effect was observed for self-faces, whereas a larger LAN with no reduction of the P600 was found for friend faces compared with unknown faces. These data suggest that both early and late syntactic processes can be modulated by self-related content. In addition, alpha power was more suppressed over the left inferior frontal gyrus only when self-faces appeared before the critical word. This may reflect higher semantic demands concomitant to early syntactic operations (around 150-550 msec). Our data also provide further evidence of self-specific response, as reflected by the N250 component. Collectively, our results suggest that identity-related information is rapidly decoded from facial stimuli and may impact core linguistic processes, supporting an interactive view of syntactic processing. This study provides evidence that the self-reference effect can be extended to syntactic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Rubianes
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Linda Drijvers
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Francisco Muñoz
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura Jiménez-Ortega
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Sabela Fondevila
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pilar Casado
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuel Martín-Loeches
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
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4
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Haciahmet CC, Golubickis M, Schäfer S, Frings C, Pastötter B. The oscillatory fingerprints of self-prioritization: Novel markers in spectral EEG for self-relevant processing. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14396. [PMID: 37497664 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Self-prioritization is a very influential modulator of human information processing. Still, little is known about the time-frequency dynamics of the self-prioritization network. In this EEG study, we used the familiarity-confound free matching task to investigate the spectral dynamics of self-prioritization and their underlying cognitive functions in a drift-diffusion model. Participants (N = 40) repeatedly associated arbitrary geometric shapes with either "the self" or "a stranger." Behavioral results demonstrated prominent self-prioritization effects (SPEs) in reaction time and accuracy. Remarkably, EEG cluster analysis also revealed two significant SPEs, one in delta/theta power (2-7 Hz) and one in beta power (19-29 Hz). Drift-diffusion modeling indicated that beta activity was associated with evidence accumulation, whereas delta/theta activity was associated with response selection. The decreased beta suppression of the SPE might indicate more efficient sensorimotor processing of self-associated stimulus-response features, whereas the increased delta/theta SPE might refer to the facilitated retrieval of self-relevant features across a widely distributed associative self-network. These novel oscillatory biomarkers of self-prioritization indicate their function as an associative glue for the self-concept.
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5
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Molnar-Szakacs I, Uddin LQ. Laterality and hemispheric specialization of self-face recognition. Neuropsychologia 2023; 186:108586. [PMID: 37236528 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Inspired by the pioneering work of Eran Zaidel beginning in the early 1970's on the role of the two cerebral hemispheres of the human brain in self-related cognition, we review research on self-face recognition from a laterality perspective. The self-face is an important proxy of the self, and self-face recognition has been used as an indicator of self-awareness more broadly. Over the last half century, behavioral and neurological data, along with over two decades of neuroimaging research evidence have accumulated on this topic, generally concluding a right-hemisphere dominance for self-face recognition. In this review, we briefly revisit the pioneering roots of this work by Sperry, Zaidel & Zaidel, and focus on the important body of neuroimaging literature on self-face recognition it has inspired. We conclude with a brief discussion of current models of self-related processing and future directions for research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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6
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Huang Y, Xie M, Liu Y, Zhang X, Jiang L, Bao H, Qin P, Han J. Brain State Relays Self-Processing and Heartbeat-Evoked Cortical Responses. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13050832. [PMID: 37239303 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The self has been proposed to be grounded in interoceptive processing, with heartbeat-evoked cortical activity as a neurophysiological marker of this processing. However, inconsistent findings have been reported on the relationship between heartbeat-evoked cortical responses and self-processing (including exteroceptive- and mental-self-processing). In this review, we examine previous research on the association between self-processing and heartbeat-evoked cortical responses and highlight the divergent temporal-spatial characteristics and brain regions involved. We propose that the brain state relays the interaction between self-processing and heartbeat-evoked cortical responses and thus accounts for the inconsistency. The brain state, spontaneous brain activity which highly and continuously changes in a nonrandom way, serves as the foundation upon which the brain functions and was proposed as a point in an extremely high-dimensional space. To elucidate our assumption, we provide reviews on the interactions between dimensions of brain state with both self-processing and heartbeat-evoked cortical responses. These interactions suggest the relay of self-processing and heartbeat-evoked cortical responses by brain state. Finally, we discuss possible approaches to investigate whether and how the brain state impacts the self-heart interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Huang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Musi Xie
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Yunhe Liu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Xinyu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Liubei Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Han Bao
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Pengmin Qin
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
- Pazhou Lab, Guangzhou 510330, China
| | - Junrong Han
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Science, Ministry of Education China, Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
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7
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La Rocca S, Gobbo S, Tosi G, Fiora E, Daini R. Look at me now! Enfacement illusion over computer-generated faces. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1026196. [PMID: 36968788 PMCID: PMC10034087 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1026196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Abstract
According to embodied cognition research, one’s bodily self-perception can be illusory and temporarily shifted toward an external body. Similarly, the so-called “enfacement illusion” induced with a synchronous multisensory stimulation over the self-face and an external face can result in implicit and explicit changes in the bodily self. The present study aimed to verify (i) the possibility of eliciting an enfacement illusion over computer-generated faces and (ii) which multisensory stimulation condition was more effective. A total of 23 participants were asked to look at a gender-matched avatar in three synchronous experimental conditions and three asynchronous control conditions (one for each stimulation: visuotactile, visuomotor, and simple exposure). After each condition, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing both the embodiment and the enfacement sensations to address different facets of the illusion. Results suggest a stronger effect of synchronous vs. asynchronous stimulation, and the difference was more pronounced for the embodiment items of the questionnaire. We also found a greater effect of visuotactile and visuomotor stimulations as compared to the simple exposure condition. These findings support the enfacement illusion as a new paradigm to investigate the ownership of different face identities and the specific role of visuotactile and visuomotor stimulations with virtual reality stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefania La Rocca
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- MiBTec–Mind and Behavior Technological Center, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- *Correspondence: Stefania La Rocca,
| | - Silvia Gobbo
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- MiBTec–Mind and Behavior Technological Center, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Giorgia Tosi
- MiBTec–Mind and Behavior Technological Center, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Department of History, Society and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Elisa Fiora
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Roberta Daini
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- MiBTec–Mind and Behavior Technological Center, University of Milano–Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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8
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Żochowska A, Jakuszyk P, Nowicka MM, Nowicka A. The self and a close-other: differences between processing of faces and newly acquired information. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:2183-2199. [PMID: 35595543 PMCID: PMC9977391 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Revised: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Prioritization of self-related information (e.g. self-face) may be driven by its extreme familiarity. Nevertheless, the findings of numerous behavioral studies reported a self-preference for initially unfamiliar information, arbitrarily associated with the self. In the current study, we investigated the neural underpinnings of extremely familiar stimuli (self-face, close-other's face) and stimuli newly assigned to one's own person and to a close-other (abstract shapes). Control conditions consisted of unknown faces and unknown abstract shapes. Reaction times (RTs) to the self-face were shorter than to close-other's and unknown faces, whereas no RTs differences were observed for shapes. P3 amplitude to the self-face was larger than to close-other's and unknown faces. Nonparametric cluster-based permutation tests showed significant clusters for the self-face vs. other (close-other's, unknown) faces. However, in the case of shapes P3 amplitudes to the self-assigned shape and to the shape assigned to a close-other were similar, and both were larger than P3 to unknown shapes. No cluster was detected for the self-assigned shape when compared with the shape assigned to the close-other. Thus, our findings revealed preferential attentional processing of the self-face and the similar allocation of attentional resources to shapes assigned to the self and a close-other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Żochowska
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Jakuszyk
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Maria M Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
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9
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Wu H, Wang D, Liu Y, Xie M, Zhou L, Wang Y, Cao J, Huang Y, Qiu M, Qin P. Decoding subject's own name in the primary auditory cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 44:1985-1996. [PMID: 36573391 PMCID: PMC9980885 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Current studies have shown that perception of subject's own name (SON) involves multiple multimodal brain regions, while activities in unimodal sensory regions (i.e., primary auditory cortex) and their interaction with multimodal regions during the self-processing remain unclear. To answer this, we combined multivariate pattern analysis and dynamic causal modelling analysis to explore the regional activation pattern and inter-region effective connection during the perception of SON. We found that SON and other names could be decoded from the activation pattern in the primary auditory cortex. In addition, we found an excitatory effect of SON on connections from the anterior insula/inferior frontal gyrus to the primary auditory cortex, and to the temporoparietal junction. Our findings extended the current knowledge of self-processing by showing that primary auditory cortex could discriminate SON from other names. Furthermore, our findings highlighted the importance of influence of the insula on the primary auditory cortex during self-processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Wu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Dong Wang
- Mental Health CenterBaoan High School Group Tangtou SchoolShenzhenChina
| | - Yueyao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Musi Xie
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Liwei Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Yiwen Wang
- Shanghai World Foreign Language AcademyShanghaiChina
| | - Jin Cao
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Yujuan Huang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Mincong Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina
| | - Pengmin Qin
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive ScienceSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouGuangdongChina,Pazhou LabGuangzhouChina
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10
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Parietal Gamma Band Oscillation Induced by Self-Hand Recognition. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12020272. [PMID: 35204035 PMCID: PMC8869977 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12020272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Physiological studies have shown that self-body images receive unique recognition processing in a wide range of brain areas, from the frontal lobe to the parietal-occipital cortex. Event-related potential (ERP) studies have shown that the self-referential effect on the image of a hand increases P300 components, but such studies do not evaluate brain oscillatory activity. In this study, we aimed to discover the self-specific brain electrophysiological activity in relation to hand images. ERPs on the fronto-parietal midline were elicited by a three-stimulus visual oddball task using hand images: the self-hand, another hand (most similar to the self-hand), and another hand (similar to the self-hand). We analyzed ERP waveform and brain oscillatory activity by simple averaging and time-frequency analysis. The simple averaging analysis found no significant differences between the responses for the three stimulus tasks in all time windows. However, time-frequency analysis showed that self-hand stimuli elicited high gamma ERS in 650–900 ms at the Cz electrode compared to other hand stimuli. Our results show that brain activity specific to the self-referential process to the self-hand image was reflected in the long latency gamma band activity in the mid-central region. This high gamma-band activity at the Cz electrode may be similar to the activity of the mirror neuron system, which is involved in hand motion.
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11
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Self-related objects increase alertness and orient attention through top-down saliency. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:408-417. [PMID: 35106681 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02429-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Attention is influenced by information about relationships between ourselves and the objects around us. Self-related objects can either facilitate or disrupt task performance, creating a challenge for identifying the precise nature of the influence of self-relatedness on attention. To address this challenge, we measured different components of attention (alertness and orienting) in the presence of self-related objects using a revised attention network task (ANT). In a self-association task, participants first learned colour-person associations and then carried out a colour-person matching task. This was followed by the ANT, in which these coloured boxes associated with self or friend were displayed as peripheral cues; participants had to judge the direction of an arrow flanked by congruent (low-conflict) or incongruent (high-conflict) distractors presented within one coloured box. The results showed faster and more accurate responses to targets appearing within the self-colour than friend-colour cues in the association task. In the ANT, the analysis of alertness revealed that self-related cues facilitated task performance compared with friend-related cues. The analysis of orienting demonstrated that relative to friend cues, self-cues hampered task performance in invalid trials. Critically, the effects of self-cues on both orienting and alertness were observed only in high conflict situations. These results indicated that self-related objects are powerful cues that enhance attention intensity, which either facilitates task performance when the upcoming target falls within their location or disrupts performance when the target falls outside their location. The data suggest that attentional functions can be tuned by self-saliency in high-demand contexts.
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12
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Żochowska A, Jakuszyk P, Nowicka MM, Nowicka A. Are covered faces eye-catching for us? The impact of masks on attentional processing of self and other faces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cortex 2022; 149:173-187. [PMID: 35257944 PMCID: PMC8830153 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been confronted with faces covered by surgical-like masks. This raises a question about how our brains process this kind of visual information. Thus, the aims of the current study were twofold: (1) to investigate the role of attention in the processing of different types of faces with masks, and (2) to test whether such partial information about faces is treated similarly to fully visible faces. Participants were tasked with the simple detection of self-, close-other's, and unknown faces with and without a mask; this task relies on attentional processes. Event-related potential (ERP) findings revealed a similar impact of surgical-like masks for all faces: the amplitudes of early (P100) and late (P300, LPP) attention-related components were higher for faces with masks than for fully visible faces. Amplitudes of N170 were similar for covered and fully visible faces, and sources of brain activity were located in the fusiform gyri in both cases. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) revealed that irrespective of whether the algorithm was trained to discriminate three types of faces either with or without masks, it was able to effectively discriminate faces that were not presented in the training phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Żochowska
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Jakuszyk
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Maria M Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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13
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Alzueta E, Kessel D, Capilla A. The upside-down self: One's own face recognition is affected by inversion. Psychophysiology 2021; 58:e13919. [PMID: 34383323 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Revised: 07/18/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
One's own face is recognized more efficiently than any other face, although the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Considering the extensive visual experience that we have with our own face, some authors have proposed that self-face recognition involves a more analytical perceptual strategy (i.e., based on face features) than other familiar faces, which are commonly processed holistically (i.e., as a whole). However, this hypothesis has not yet been tested with brain activity data. In the present study, we employed an inversion paradigm combined with event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate whether the self-face is processed more analytically. Sixteen healthy participants were asked to identify their own face and a familiar face regardless of its orientation, which could either be upright or inverted. ERP analysis revealed an enhanced amplitude and a delayed latency for the N170 component when faces were presented in an inverted orientation. Critically, both the self and a familiar face were equally vulnerable to the inversion effect, suggesting that the self-face is not processed more analytically than a familiar face. In addition, we replicated the recent finding that the attention-related P200 component is a specific neural index of self-face recognition. Overall, our results suggest that the advantage for self-face processing might be better explained by the engagement of self-related attentional mechanisms than by the use of a more analytical visuoperceptual strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabet Alzueta
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, USA
| | - Dominique Kessel
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Almudena Capilla
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Żochowska A, Nowicka MM, Wójcik MJ, Nowicka A. Self-face and emotional faces-are they alike? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:593-607. [PMID: 33595078 PMCID: PMC8218856 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The image of one’s own face is a particularly distinctive feature of the self. The
self-face differs from other faces not only in respect of its familiarity but also in
respect of its subjective emotional significance and saliency. The current study aimed at
elucidating similarities/dissimilarities between processing of one’s own face and
emotional faces: happy faces (based on the self-positive bias) and fearful faces (because
of their high perceptual saliency, a feature shared with self-face). Electroencephalogram
data were collected in the group of 30 participants who performed a simple detection task.
Event-related potential analyses indicated significantly increased P3 and late positive
potential amplitudes to the self-face in comparison to all other faces: fearful, happy and
neutral. Permutation tests confirmed the differences between the self-face and all three
types of other faces for numerous electrode sites and in broad time windows.
Representational similarity analysis, in turn, revealed distinct processing of the
self-face and did not provide any evidence in favour of similarities between the self-face
and emotional (either negative or positive) faces. These findings strongly suggest that
the self-face processing do not resemble those of emotional faces, thus implying that
prioritized self-referential processing is driven by the subjective relevance of one’s own
face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Żochowska
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences,voivodeship mazowieckie,Warsaw 02-093, Poland
| | - Maria M Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences,voivodeship mazowieckie,Warsaw 02-093, Poland
| | - Michał J Wójcik
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford,Oxfordshire, Oxford OX2 6GG,UK
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences,voivodeship mazowieckie,Warsaw 02-093, Poland
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Jublie A, Kumar D. Early Capture of Attention by Self-Face: Investigation Using a Temporal Order Judgment Task. Iperception 2021; 12:20416695211032993. [PMID: 34377429 PMCID: PMC8327255 DOI: 10.1177/20416695211032993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Earlier work on self-face processing has reported a bias in the processing of self-face result in faster response to self-face in comparison to other familiar and unfamiliar faces (termed as self-face advantage or SFA). Even though most studies agree that the SFA occurs due to an attentional bias, there is little agreement regarding the stage at which it occurs. While a large number of studies show self-face influencing processing later at disengagement stage, early event-related potential components show differential activity for the self-face suggesting that SFA occurs early. We address this contradiction using a cueless temporal order judgment task that allows us to investigate early perceptual processing, while bias due to top-down expectation is controlled. A greater shift in point of subjective simultaneity for self-face would indicate a greater processing advantage at early perceptual stage. With help of two experiments, we show an early perceptual advantage for self-face, compared to both a friend's face and an unfamiliar face (Experiment 1). This advantage is present even when the effect of criterion shift is minimized (Experiment 2). Interestingly, the magnitude of advantage is similar for self-friend and self-unfamiliar pair. The evidence from the two experiments suggests early capture of attention as a likely reason for the SFA, which is present for the self-face but not for other familiar faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditi Jublie
- Department of Cognitive Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India
| | - Devpriya Kumar
- Department of Cognitive Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India
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Bola M, Paź M, Doradzińska Ł, Nowicka A. The self-face captures attention without consciousness: Evidence from the N2pc ERP component analysis. Psychophysiology 2020; 58:e13759. [PMID: 33355938 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
It is well established that stimuli representing or associated with ourselves, like our own name or an image of our own face, benefit from preferential processing. However, two key questions concerning the self-prioritization mechanism remain to be addressed. First, does it operate in an automatic manner during the early processing, or rather in a more controlled fashion at later processing stages? Second, is it specific to the self-related stimuli, or can it be activated also by other stimuli that are familiar or salient? We conducted a dot-probe experiment to investigate the mechanism behind the attentional prioritization of the self-face image and to tackle both questions. The former, by employing a backwards masking procedure to isolate the early and preconscious processing stages. The latter, by investigating whether a face that becomes visually familiar due to repeated presentations is able to capture attention in a similar manner as the self-face. Analysis of the N2pc ERP component revealed that the self-face image automatically captures attention, both when processed consciously and unconsciously. In contrast, the visually familiar face did not attract attention, neither in the conscious, nor in the unconscious condition. We conclude that the self-prioritization mechanism is early and automatic, and is not triggered by mere visual familiarity. More generally, our results provide further evidence for efficient unconscious processing of faces, and for dissociation between attention and consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michał Bola
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marta Paź
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Łucja Doradzińska
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Woźniak M, Hohwy J. Stranger to my face: Top-down and bottom-up effects underlying prioritization of images of one's face. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235627. [PMID: 32645034 PMCID: PMC7347180 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies suggest that we rapidly and effortlessly associate neutral information with the self, leading to subsequent prioritization of this information in perception. However, the exact underlying processes behind these effects are not fully known. Here, we focus specifically on top-down and bottom-up processes involved in self-prioritization, and report results from three experiments involving face detection, using a sequential match-non-match task. Across the three experiments we asked participants to associate an unfamiliar face with the self (Experiment 1), to associate one's face with a stranger's name (Experiment 2), and to establish both associations simultaneously (Experiment 3). We found that while participants showed evidence of bottom-up prioritization of their real faces, they did not show such an effect for self-associated strangers' faces. However, the participants showed a robust self-related top-down effect; when presented with a self-related cue, they were later faster at classifying both subsequent correct and incorrect targets. Together, our results suggest that self-prioritization is underpinned by distinct top-down and bottom-up processes. We discuss our findings in the context of the proposal that the self acts as an "integrative glue", and suggest an interpretation of our results within the framework of predictive coding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Woźniak
- Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Social Mind Center, Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Jakob Hohwy
- Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Department of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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