The diverse relationship between self-prioritization effect and emotional valence: Self-positivity bias and self-negative repulsion.

Abstract

Although the self-positivity bias (SPB) suggests a preferential association with positive valence, emerging evidence indicates a more robust self-interaction with negativity. We propose self-negativity repulsion (SNR)-an active avoidance mechanism-as a distinct process complementing SPB. Using a novel nonsemantic paradigm, we examined the bidirectional influence between self-relevance (self, stranger, none) and emotional valence (positive, negative, neutral) across two tasks: one assessing emotional valence's impact on self-processing (Social Task), the other vice versa (Emotional Task). Analyses of behavioral (RTs) and electrophysiological data (ERPs, MVPC) revealed a dissociation. Positive valence yielded no behavioral benefits but showed subtle neural facilitation (e.g., enhanced decoding, distinct connectivity), suggesting a processing saturation effect. Conversely, negative valence consistently impaired behavior (slower RTs, reduced SPE). This was accompanied by a two-stage neural pattern: initial vigilance (a larger P2) followed by late-stage processing disruption (a reduced LPP). These findings provide converging evidence for dissociable SPB and SNR mechanisms. We suggest a dual-component model where SPB facilitates early processing and integration of positive self-information, while a distinct SNR mechanism actively modulates or inhibits negative self-information.