Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Abstract: Presenting an item with self-relevant vs. other-relevant information can produce a memory advantage, even in the absence of a task demand to evaluate the item’s self-relevancy. Termed the incidental self-reference effect (iSRE), this self-memory advantage has been assumed to arise due to automatic/preferential attention to self-relevant vs. other-relevant information. Yet, this assumption has not been empirically tested. In addition, it remains to be clarified which of the three distinct networks of attention (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control) is related to the iSRE. Rectifying these limitations, in the present study, we used self-relevant and other-relevant cues (i.e., one’s own name vs. the name of one’s friend) and administered both the iSRE memory task and Attention Network Test (ANT). In the iSRE memory task, we found better memory for items presented with the self-relevant vs. other-relevant cue, replicating the typical iSRE. In the ANT, we found a self-advantage in orienting, but not in alerting or executive control. Critically, the magnitude of the iSRE was positively correlated with the magnitude of the self-advantage in attentional orienting. Overall, our findings suggest that the incidental SRE may be underpinned by automatic/preferential attentional orienting toward self-relevant vs. other-relevant cues in the environment.
Keywords: incidental self-reference effect; attentional networks; self; memory; attention
Jones-Delgado-Wang-Kim_PsycPoster_2022_FNL1