Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 823-828.

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Differences of Relevant Traits at Encoding and Retrieval from Double Perspective: An ERP Study

  

  • Received:2013-05-21 Revised:2013-12-24 Online:2014-07-20 Published:2014-07-20

双视角下编码与提取相关性词差异的ERP研究

刘亚1,张钦1,李月婷2,郭春彦3,王争艳1   

  1. 1. 首都师范大学
    2. 上海简鑫信息技术有限公司
    3. 首都师范大学教育学院心理系
  • 通讯作者: 刘亚

Abstract: Peeters(1983) made a distinction between other-relevant traits and possessor-relevant traits. ORTs denote unconditionally positive or negative consequences for persons in the social environment of the holder of the trait (e.g., honest, brutal), whereas PRTs denote unconditionally positive or negative consequences for the trait holder (e.g., happy, depressive). Most studies indicate that other-relevant traits (e.g., aggressive, honest) relate to other-interest, while possessor-relevant traits (e.g., depressive, intelligent) associate with self-interest. And it has been proved that other-relevant trait words had an advantage of attracting attention over possessor-relevant stimuli from the perspective of the recipient or the associates of the trait holder. This study aims to expand the processing of relevance dimension from the perspective of the possessor, as well as discriminate between the potential and the immediate recipient from the perspective of the recipient. The main contribution of the present research is to show that other-relevance and possessor-relevance could have their respective advantages from double perspective (the perspectives of the possessor and the recipient), but not other-relevance invariably dominates possessor-relevance. The present research adopted the study-test paradigm using event-related potentials. The data was collected from sixteen right-handed participants. There were three phases in each block: (1) The study phase required the participants to decide a). In the Recipient’s Perspective Condition, whether a trait of other persons, contacting with the participant, denoted larger consequences for persons in the social environment of the holder of the trait or for the trait holder; b).In the Possessor’s Perspective Condition, supposing that the participant have a certain trait, whether the trait denoted larger consequences for persons in the social environment of the participant or for the participant; c). In the Recipient’s Perspective Condition, whether a trait of other persons, contacting with the participant, denoted larger consequences for the participant or for the trait holder. (2)After the study phase, the participants were asked to subtract 3 from a 3-digit number shown on the screen. (3) The recognition test requested the participants to judge whether they had saw the presented word in the study phase and make a key-pressing response. The experimental results show that (1) Other-relevant trials significantly evoke larger amplitude than possessor-relevant trials at 150~800ms encoding stage and at 300~400ms during retrieval in both the Recipient and Possessor’s Perspective. (2) In the Possessor’s Perspective Condition, possessor-relevant trials evoke larger P600 amplitude than other-relevant trials during retrieval; (3) In the Recipient’s Perspective Condition, other-relevant trials denoting consequences for general persons in the social environment of the possessor significantly evoke larger amplitude during 300~800ms at encoding stage than those denoting consequences for self as the recipient. In conclusion, other-relevant traits capture more cognitive resources during encoding and at 300~400ms during retrieval, no matter which perspective evaluations are being made from. However, possessor-relevant traits indicate stronger recollection of episodic information during retrieval in the Possessor’s Perspective Condition. At last, other-relevant traits directing to the participants rather than general persons in the social environment of the possessor significantly reduce conflict of decision making at encoding stage.

Key words: relevance, self, Event-related potential, the Recipient’s Perspective, the Possessor’s Perspective

摘要: 当个体的特征对周围人的利害影响大于本人时(如残忍),该特征是他相关(other-relevance)的;反之则是主相关(possessor-relevance,如忧郁)的。研究比较了两种视角下(接受者视角:加工他人的特征;持有者视角:加工自我的特征)相关性特征在编码(判断特征词的相关性)与提取(新旧判断)过程中的ERP特点并发现:编码时双视角下都有他相关比主相关的波幅更大;提取时双视角下都有他相关比主相关的N400波形更负,仅在持有者视角时主相关比他相关的P600更正。可见他相关的加工优势体现在双视角下编码的全程与提取的早期,而主相关的优势表现在持有者视角的情景记忆提取过程中。

关键词: 相关性, 自我, 事件相关电位, 接受者视角, 持有者视角

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