Goal-directed processing of self-relevant information is associated with less cognitive interference than the processing of information about other people

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology Vol. 68; pp. 93 - 100
• Main Authors: Tacikowski, Pawel, Freiburghaus, Tove, Ehrsson, Henrik H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego Elsevier Inc 01-01-2017; Academic Press
• Subjects: Accuracy; Automatic processing; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive interference; Controlled processing; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Self esteem; Self-concept; Social psychology; Self-concept; Controlled processing; Cognitive interference; Automatic processing
• ISSN: 0022-1031; 1096-0465
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2016.05.007

Goal-directed mental processes focused on oneself often co-occur with goal-directed mental processes focused on other people or objects. However, little is known about the mechanisms of this fundamental type of cognitive interaction. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of cognitive interference associated with self-related processing compared with other-related processing. In two separate experiments, we found that an additional letter-case task interfered with self-recognition significantly less than with the recognition of famous and unknown others. This principal finding was consistent across the accuracy and latency of the participants' responses and across different categories of autobiographical stimuli. Together, these results suggest that the goal-directed processing of self-related stimuli is relatively effortless and that it could easily co-occur with additional mental tasks. Implications for models of access to self-concept and models of cognitive interference are discussed.
•We tested cognitive interference associated with goal-directed self-processing.•Self-recognition was related to less interference than other-recognition.•Goal-directed self-processing could easily co-occur with concurrent mental activity.