An EPR study of the cognitive processes underlying the impact of self-relevant information on emotional word processing

Using the event-related potentials (ERPs) technique, this study successively presented names (in either a supra- or subthreshold manner) and emotional words to examine how self-relevant cue (self-name) affects emotional word processing in word class judgment task (to determine whether an emotional word is a noun or adjective) and valence judgment task (to determine whether an emotional word is positive or negative). At the suprathreshold condition, self-relevant positive words elicited a more significant Early posterior negativity (EPN) than negative words only in the valence judgment task. In contrast, at the subthreshold condition, self-relevant negative words elicited an enhanced Late positive potential (LPP) than positive words only in the word class judgment task. These results indicate that self-relevant cue affects emotional word processing at both suprathreshold and subthreshold conditions; nevertheless, the effect manifests as self-positive bias at the suprathreshold condition and self-negative bias at the subthreshold condition. The experimental task modulates these dynamics.