The Interaction Between Self And Emotion: An ERP Study On Self-positivity Bias

For a long time the'self' has been a topic of discussion within psychology. As an important part of'self', self-positivity bias has been gotten much more attention. Based on previous researches, event-related potential technology and emotional Chinese words were used in this study to identify the processing of self-reference and emotional valence. The aim of the present study was to proof explicit and implicit self-positivity bias, furthermore, to understand the complex relationship between self-reference and emotional valence at an electrophysiological level.There were two parts in this study. The first part was the study of explicit self-positivity bias. Event-related brain potentials were recorded when participants performed self-related decision tasks (like me/not like me), judging the self-referential content of positive and negative Chinese words. The second part was the study of implicit self-positivity bias by using Supraliminal Attitude-Prime Paradigm. Event-related brain potentials were recorded when participants performed emotional judgement tasks (positive/negative) in self or non-self primed conditions.The results of self-related decision tasks showed an interaction of reaction times 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 N200 and N400 component, with larger N200 and N400 amplitudes for words outwith the self-positivity bias. The results of emotional judgement tasks showed an interaction in ERP waveforms in the time range of the N2 component between self-reference and emotional valence. Larger N2 amplitudes occurred after self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self positive words.The results supported that the processing of self-reference and emotional valence are closely associated and confirmed the explicit and implicit self-positivity bias. The explicit self-positivity bias made self-related decision tasks easier for the words within this bias, with faster responses and less psychological resources to self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self positive words. The implicit self-positivity bias made the words within this bias a rapid and automatic activation, with larger ERP negative amplitudes, more psychological resources and more deeply processing to self-positive and non-self negative words as compared to self-negative and non-self positive words.