The temporal profile of self-prioritization

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition 2024-10, Vol.125, p.103763, Article 103763
• Main Authors: Jalalian, Parnian, Golubickis, Marius, Sharma, Yadvi, Neil Macrae, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Decision Making - physiology; Drift diffusion model; Ego; Female; Humans; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Self; Self-prioritization; Shape-label matching task; Temporal stability; Time Factors; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2024.103763

•Demonstrated that self-prioritization is a temporally stable property of decisional processing.•Utilized advanced computational models to probe the cognitive processes that underpin decision-making.•Found that processing efficiency for self-related stimuli uniquely declines over time.•Identified a tailored variant of the drift diffusion model as the optimal fit for the observed data. Personal relevance exerts a powerful influence on decisional processing, such that arbitrary stimuli associated with the self are classified more rapidly than identical material linked with other people. Notwithstanding numerous demonstrations of this facilitatory effect, it remains unclear whether self-prioritization is a temporally stable outcome of decision-making. Accordingly, using a shape-label matching task in combination with computational modeling, the current experiment investigated this matter. The results were informative. First, regardless of the target of comparison (i.e., friend or stranger), self-prioritization was a persistent product of decision-making across the testing session. Second, a variant of the standard drift diffusion model in which decisional boundaries collapsed gradually over the course of the task best fit the observed data. Third, whereas the efficiency of stimulus processing increased for other-related stimuli during the task, it decreased for self-related material. Collectively, these findings advance understanding of the temporal profile of self-prioritization.