The effect of self-referential processing of faces on visual awareness : An ERP study

Abstract: Previous findings have discovered that self-related stimuli such as one’s own face relative to a familiar or an unknown face leads to enhanced neural processing. Preferential processing of the self-face has been observed at various event-related potential (ERP) components, both when stimuli were presented on a subliminal and supraliminal level. This study extends previous research on the relationship between self-preferential processing and awareness by examining whether the visual awareness negativity (VAN) component, a proposed early signature of visual awareness, is modulated by the self-face compared to a personally familiar face. By the use of backward masking paradigm, faces were presented on the left or the right side of the screen, after which participants performed localization and identification task, and rated their perceived awareness. We found more negative amplitude for supraliminal compared to subliminal faces, indexed by the VAN (180-280ms). Further, the self-face displayed more negative amplitude than the familiar-face, supporting findings of self-referential processing. However, no interaction between face identity and awareness was found. These findings suggest that preferential processing of the self-face does not depend on the level of awareness.