关键词: 自我参照, 母亲参照, 子女参照, 知觉匹配任务

Abstract:

The self-reference effect refers to the fact that establishing a connection between specific information and oneself can promote processing. For middle-aged Chinese adults, the self-concept typically encompasses not only themselves but also their children and their mothers. However, whether the newly established connections related to children and mothers can rapidly influence perceptual processing has not been studied. By using a modified perceptual matching paradigm with a 4 (identity labels: self, child, mother, stranger) × 2 (matching status: match, no match) within-subjects design, the present study examined the above question by selecting middle-aged adults between the ages of 43 and 57 as participants. The results showed that the accuracy in the self- and mother-reference condition was significantly higher than that in the stranger-reference condition. The d’ in the self-reference condition was significantly higher than that in the stranger-reference condition. Additionally, reaction times in the self- and child-reference conditions were significantly shorter than that in the stranger-reference condition. These findings indicate that self, child, and mother can quickly establish associations with geometric shapes and facilitate perceptual processing, which result in self, mother, and child referencing effects. This study provides empirical evidence for the inclusion of “mother” and “child” components in the self-structure of middle-aged Chinese adults from the perceptual processing perspective.

Key words: self-reference, mother-reference, child-reference, perceptual matching task