Valence and ownership: object desirability influences self-prioritization

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Decision Science

Background:

• Possession significantly influences stimulus processing, leading to faster categorization of self-owned items compared to others.
• The extent to which ownership affects processing, particularly concerning object valence (desirability), remains unclear.
• Understanding self-prioritization requires examining how ownership interacts with emotional value.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether ownership enhances object processing irrespective of valence or is limited to desirable items.
• To explore the influence of valence on the self-prioritization effect in object categorization.
• To elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underlying ownership and valence effects on decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Participants categorized desirable and undesirable posters ostensibly belonging to themselves or a best friend.
• Reaction times (RT) were measured to assess categorization speed.
• Hierarchical drift-diffusion modeling (HDDM) was employed to analyze cognitive processes.

Main Results:

• A self-prioritization effect (faster RT for self-owned items) was observed for desirable posters.
• This effect was driven by differences in the efficiency of stimulus processing.
• Decisional evidence was extracted faster for desirable self-owned posters, with the opposite pattern for friend-owned posters.

Conclusions:

• Self-prioritization is modulated by the valence of objects, particularly for desirable items.
• Valence influences the efficiency of stimulus processing and evidence accumulation during decision-making.
• These findings clarify the interplay between ownership, valence, and cognitive processing in self-prioritization.