Seeing yourself in a positive light: brain correlates of the self-positivity bias

Lynn Ann Watson; Barbara Dritschel; Marc  Obonsawin; Ines Jentzsch

Seeing yourself in a positive light: brain correlates of the self-positivity bias

Lynn Ann Watson, Barbara Dritschel, Marc Obonsawin, Ines Jentzsch

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

117 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Individuals are found to have better recall for self-referent information than other types of information. However, attribution research has shown that self-reference is highly correlated with emotional valence. The present study attempted to identify and separate the processing of self-reference and emotional valence using ERPs. Participants performed a two-choice task, judging the self-referential content of positive and negative words. Reaction times revealed an interaction between self-reference and emotional valence. Faster responses occurred after self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self-positive words. A similar interaction was identified in ERP waveforms in the time range of the N400 component at fronto-central electrode sites, with larger N400 amplitudes for words outwith the self-positivity bias. Thus, the size of the N400 may indicate the extent to which information is discrepant with the individual's self-concept

Original language	English
Journal	Brain Research
Volume	1152
Pages (from-to)	106
Number of pages	110
ISSN	0006-8993
Publication status	Published - 23 Mar 2007
Externally published	Yes

Cite this

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title = "Seeing yourself in a positive light: brain correlates of the self-positivity bias",

abstract = "Individuals are found to have better recall for self-referent information than other types of information. However, attribution research has shown that self-reference is highly correlated with emotional valence. The present study attempted to identify and separate the processing of self-reference and emotional valence using ERPs. Participants performed a two-choice task, judging the self-referential content of positive and negative words. Reaction times revealed an interaction between self-reference and emotional valence. Faster responses occurred after self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self-positive words. A similar interaction was identified in ERP waveforms in the time range of the N400 component at fronto-central electrode sites, with larger N400 amplitudes for words outwith the self-positivity bias. Thus, the size of the N400 may indicate the extent to which information is discrepant with the individual's self-concept",

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T1 - Seeing yourself in a positive light: brain correlates of the self-positivity bias

AU - Watson, Lynn Ann

AU - Dritschel, Barbara

AU - Obonsawin, Marc

AU - Jentzsch, Ines

PY - 2007/3/23

Y1 - 2007/3/23

N2 - Individuals are found to have better recall for self-referent information than other types of information. However, attribution research has shown that self-reference is highly correlated with emotional valence. The present study attempted to identify and separate the processing of self-reference and emotional valence using ERPs. Participants performed a two-choice task, judging the self-referential content of positive and negative words. Reaction times revealed an interaction between self-reference and emotional valence. Faster responses occurred after self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self-positive words. A similar interaction was identified in ERP waveforms in the time range of the N400 component at fronto-central electrode sites, with larger N400 amplitudes for words outwith the self-positivity bias. Thus, the size of the N400 may indicate the extent to which information is discrepant with the individual's self-concept

AB - Individuals are found to have better recall for self-referent information than other types of information. However, attribution research has shown that self-reference is highly correlated with emotional valence. The present study attempted to identify and separate the processing of self-reference and emotional valence using ERPs. Participants performed a two-choice task, judging the self-referential content of positive and negative words. Reaction times revealed an interaction between self-reference and emotional valence. Faster responses occurred after self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self-positive words. A similar interaction was identified in ERP waveforms in the time range of the N400 component at fronto-central electrode sites, with larger N400 amplitudes for words outwith the self-positivity bias. Thus, the size of the N400 may indicate the extent to which information is discrepant with the individual's self-concept

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0006-8993

VL - 1152

SP - 106

JO - Brain Research

JF - Brain Research

ER -

Seeing yourself in a positive light: brain correlates of the self-positivity bias

Abstract

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