I, me, mine: Automatic attentional capture by self-related stimuli

Drawing on decades of research suggesting an attentional advantage for self-related information, researchers generally assume that self-related stimuli automatically capture attention. However, a literature review reveals that this claim has not been systematically examined. We aimed to fill in this dearth of evidence. Following a feature-based account of automaticity, we set up four experiments in which participants were asked to respond to a target preceded by a cue, which was self-related or not. In Experiment 1, larger cuing effects (faster reaction times to valid versus invalid trials) were found with a participant’s own name compared with someone else’s name. In Experiment 2, we replicated these results with unconscious cues. Experiment 3 suggested that these effects are not likely driven by familiarity. In Experiment 4, participants experienced greater difficulties from having their attention being captured by their own compared with someone else’s name. We conclude that attentional capture by self-related stimuli is automatic in the sense that it is unintentional, unconscious, and uncontrolled. Implications for self-regulation and intergroup relations are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.