Gong Mingliang, Huangfu Bingzhe, Yang Jianan, Chen Shuanghong, Gao Jie
School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2025 Aug 11. doi: 10.3758/s13423-025-02759-6.
Visual crowding impedes the recognition of object identity. However, some studies have demonstrated that stimuli with significant meaning (e.g., threats) are processed preferentially under crowded conditions. Here we examined whether self-associated objects, which are personally significant, similarly facilitate object recognition in crowding. To this end, objects were rendered either self-related or other-related by an imagined ownership procedure. Subsequently, a memory test was conducted, along with an assessment of object recognition under crowding conditions. The results replicated the self-reference effect (SRE) in memory. More crucially, objects only transiently associated with self showed reduced crowding interference compared to other-related objects. This finding demonstrates that self-referencing enhances the recognition of objects in crowded scenarios. It supports the notion that personally significant stimuli are prioritized in processing under crowding, a phenomenon that can be conceptualized as a visual cocktail party effect.
视觉拥挤会妨碍物体识别。然而，一些研究表明，具有重大意义的刺激（如威胁）在拥挤条件下会被优先处理。在这里，我们研究了具有个人重要性的自我关联物体是否同样能在拥挤环境中促进物体识别。为此，通过想象所有权程序使物体呈现为自我相关或他人相关。随后，进行了一项记忆测试，同时评估拥挤条件下的物体识别。结果在记忆中重现了自我参照效应（SRE）。更关键的是，与他人相关物体相比，仅与自我短暂关联的物体显示出拥挤干扰减少。这一发现表明，自我参照增强了在拥挤场景中对物体的识别。它支持了这样一种观点，即个人重要的刺激在拥挤处理中被优先考虑，这一现象可被概念化为视觉鸡尾酒会效应。
