title: Attentional control and the self: The Self-Attention Network (SAN).
abstract: Although there is strong evidence that human decision-making is frequently self-biased, it remains unclear whether self-biases mediate attention. Here we review evidence on the relations between self-bias effects in decision-making and attention. We ask: Does self-related information capture attention? Do self-biases modulate pre-attentive processes or do they depend on attentional resources being available? We review work on (1) own-name effects, (2) own-face effects, and (3) self-biases in associative matching. We argue that self-related information does have a differential impact on the allocation of attention and that it can alter the saliency of a stimulus in a manner that mimics the effects of perceptual-saliency. However, there is also evidence that self-biases depend on the availability of attentional resources and attentional expectancies for upcoming stimuli. We propose a new processing framework, the Self-Attention Network (SAN), in which neural circuits responding to self-related stimuli interact with circuits supporting attentional control, to determine our emergent behavior. We also discuss how these-bias effects may extend beyond the self to be modulated by the broader social context-for example, by cultural experience, by an in-group as opposed to an out-group stimulus, and by whether we are engaged in joint actions. Self-biases on attention are modulated by social context.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Experimental Psychology , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: Glyn W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Humphreys
authors.affiliation: a Department of Experimental Psychology , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sui
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004532:Ego; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Attention; Own-face effect; Own-name effect; Self-bias