关键词: 自我信息, 无意识整合, 阈下同异任务, 知觉匹配任务, 空间整合窗口

Abstract: When processing large volumes of information, only a limited subset can be consciously integrated into new representations, while other critical information must be unconsciously integrated to support survival and environmental adaptation. Previous research suggests that self-related information serves as a ‘binding glue’, facilitating integration between stimuli with consistent advantages at perceptual and semantic levels. However, whether self-related information can be integrated unconsciously remains unclear. Addressing this issue could deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying self-related information integration. Accordingly, the current study employed three experiments to systematically examine the unconscious integration advantage of self-related information, focusing on the integration window size and the specific levels of representation at which this advantage occurred. This study adopted the recently developed subliminal same-different task as an effective tool for assessing unconscious integration performance, in conjunction with the self-perceptual matching task (SPMT) to investigate the unconscious integration mechanisms of self-related information. The subliminal same-different task simultaneously presented two primes and two targets, with the congruency effect between the relationships of the primes and targets used to assess unconscious integration. Experiment 1 (N=32) examined the congruency effect of neutral geometric shapes across three SIW sizes (1.53°, 4.02°, 6.51°). Experiment 2 (N=32) introduced social information (self, friend, none) to explore its influence on the congruency effect, while controlling for stimulus familiarity using the SPMT. Experiment 3 further examined the SIW that showed self-related congruency advantages in Experiment 2, dissociating perceptual similarity to examine the effects of social information (self, friend) and integration levels (perceptual representation level, semantic representation level) on the congruency effect. Experiment 1 revealed that neutral shapes exhibited a congruency effect solely at the 1.53° SIW, indicating that low-level unconscious perceptual integration occurs only at this SIW. In Experiment 2, significant congruency effects were observed for all levels of social information at the 1.53° SIW, with no differences among them. At the 4.02° SIW, only self-related shapes displayed a significant congruency effect, while no congruency effects were significant at the 6.51° SIW. These findings suggest that the involvement of social information modulates congruency effects over a broader SIW(4.02°), while self-related information specifically exhibits unconscious integration advantages at the 4.02° SIW. Experiment 3 further demonstrated that, the self-advantage effect did not depend on perceptual similarity, it can occur at both the perceptual representation level and the semantic representation level. In summary, the current study was the first to identify an unconscious integration advantage for self-related information. These findings support the windows of integration (WOI) hypothesis, suggesting that the unconscious integration advantage of self-related information is constrained by the size of SIW, and can occur at both early perceptual stage and late conceptual stage of information processing.

Key words: self-related information, unconscious integration, subliminal same-different task, self-perceptual matching task, spatial integration window