Top-down control and directed attention in self-reference effects: Goal-directed movements and the SAN

We focus on Humphreys and Sui's postulations that self-reference effects are not necessarily pre-attentive, and the self and top-down attention interact in the SAN. If so, top-down factors (goal-relevance, directed attention) should interact with self-reference effects. Our pilot data from unspeeded reach-to-grasp actions show differences in trajectories when reaching toward self- or other-relevant objects. We speculate that goal-directed actions are suited to studying the top-down control in self-reference effects. Because goal-directed action paradigms allow broad scope for modulating attention and top-down control, they will be useful for disambiguating the roles of directed attention, inhibition, and (social) context.