Self-relevant Effect Of Name Sharing The Same Surname-Evidences From EEG

Numerous studies indicate that the processing of self-relevant stimuli is preferential.That is,people react more quickly and accurately to self-relevant information than to nonself-relevant information.This phenomenon has been termed as self-relevant effect in the research field of Psychology.Self-names are the most commonly used self-relevant stimuli in the literature,and have been considered to be closest to the inner sense of self.Some studies suggested that names of intimate others can also elicit self-relevant processing,such as family members and close friends.This is because these individuals have psychological salience and social relevance to the participant.We wondered whether the name of someone who has no social interaction with the participant can also undergo self-preferential processing due to a shared feature with the participant's name(e.g.,same surname).A stranger with the same surname can be able to get more attention despite unfamiliarity and having no social interaction with us in real life.This issue is worth to be investigated using the empirical methodology since it can help us better understand people's social activities in daily life.Our surname is an important form of collective selfconcept,and is psychologically salient.Surnames are a sign of one's family membership,which is the most fundamental social role one identifies with during early development,as well as an early source of a sense of belonging.In the context of Chinese culture,which emphasize the interconnectedness of human beings and contingencies between the individual's behavior and the thoughts and actions of others(the interdependent self),relationships with in-group members play important roles in the construction of one's selfhood and surname is precisely one of the most typical indicator of in-group.Thus,a self-relevant effect would be expected in response to one's surname in Chinese culture.It is assumed that stimuli with biological importance,such as emotional and selfrelevant stimuli,can be distinguished at the selective attention stage.It has been suggested that stimuli equipped with different degree of self-relevance relative to non-self-relevant stimuli can make a huge difference in the involuntary,automatic attentional processing(i.e.,P2 stage)and subsequent controlled,capacity-limited processing(i.e.,P3 stage).Considering the self-relevant information could bias the attention orientation from the early involuntary stage to the central,controlled stage of information processing,and the superiority of the oddball paradigm in the study of attentional bias,we used electroencephalography(EEG),as it has a high temporal resolution,to explore time course of the self-relevant effect of names sharing the same surname.Familiarity is a control variable that must be considered in the study of self-relevant effects.In order to eliminate the influence of familiarity which may obscure the selfrelevant effect in our study,and to prove that the priority in processing of self-relevant stimuli is caused by differences in the self-relevance of stimuli,not because of the difference in the familiarity.This study has been divided into two experiments.Famous name with the same surname and stranger's name sharing the same surname have been selected respectively to explore the self-relevant processing induced by surname.In Experiment one,we first set the famous name with the same surname as the experimental condition group to explore whether names sharing the same surname can exactly elicit self-relevant processing.If it does,then in Experiment two we will use stranger's name sharing the same surname as the experimental condition group to see if this self-relevant effect of familiar names can be extended to a wider unfamiliar populations.In particular,the confusion on self-relevant effect observed in the experiment,which came from the difference in familiarity of stimulus,can be eliminated through covariate analysis.The purpose of Experiment one was to examine whether famous name with the same surname could trigger self-relevant processing.Behavioral analyses have reported that self-name(SN)is rated more self-relevant than famous name with the same surname(FNS),which,in turn,is rated more self-relevant than famous name with different surname(FND),while there is no significant difference in the familiarity ratings across the three conditions.P2 amplitudes show similar enhancements in response to SN and FNS when compared to FND.P3 amplitudes and power of theta band were more pronounced in response to SN than to FNS,which in turn elicited larger P3 and theta activities than FND.This suggests that people sharing the same surname with participants could elicit self-relevant processing,despite having no intimacy with these participants in daily life.The purpose of Experiment two was to examine whether stranger's name with same surname could also trigger self-relevant processing.Behavioral results indicated that same-surname unfamiliar names(SSU)were rated more self-relevant than differentsurname unfamiliar names(DSU),though they were rated equally unfamiliar to subjects.Brain potential analysis showed similar P2 enhancement in response to self-name(SN)and SSU when compared to DSU.By contrast,the size of the self-relevant effect on P3 amplitudes and theta synchronization decreased linearly from SN,SSU,to DSU conditions.Thus,both the behavioral and electrophysiological data indicated that unfamiliar names with the same surname can evoke reliable self-relevant processing.In summary,due to the great social significance of surname in the context of Chinese culture,both the familiar or unfamiliar names sharing the same surname with participants could evoke self-relevant effect in our study,and they all can bias the attentional processing.