Wozniak, M. 1, 2, 3 , Kourtis, D. 2, 4 , Knoblich, G. 2 & Hohwy, J. 1
1 Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
2 Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
3 Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
4 University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland
Self-associated information is typically prioritized in cognitive processing, as evidenced by faster reaction times and lower error rates. It also affects the amplitude of event-related components such as P3 and N2 which are frequently associated with attentional processing. In the current study we report evidence that self-association also influences preparatory oscillatory activity. At the beginning of the experiment participants were told to associate three arbitrary faces with themselves, a friend, and a stranger. Then they participated in a perceptual matching task in which they were first presented with a label (acting as a cue) reflecting one of the three identities, and then, after a 1.5s delay, with one of the three faces (a target). Their task was to judge whether the face matches with the label. We found that cueing with self-related label led to decrease in power of the anterior low-beta between 600-900ms following the cue, what may reflect reduced working memory load when reactivating representation of self-associated face rather than other faces. This effect was followed with sustained suppression of the posterior high-alpha-band oscillations until presentation of the target stimulus (800-1500ms after the cue). Pre-stimulus alpha suppression is frequently associated with increased activation of the cortex pending appearance of the target stimulus. As such, our results suggest that self-association can influence preparatory oscillatory activity via cue-induced top-down effects.