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. 2022 Jul 7:16:862359.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.862359. eCollection 2022.

Subliminal Priming Effects of Masked Social Hierarchies During a Categorization Task: An Event-Related Brain Potentials Study

Sabela Fondevila  1   2 , David Hernández-Gutiérrez  1   3 , Javier Espuny  1 , Laura Jimenez-Ortega  1   2 , Pilar Casado  1   2 , Francisco Muñoz Muñoz  1   2 , José Sánchez-García  1 , Manuel Martín-Loeches  1   2
Affiliations

Subliminal Priming Effects of Masked Social Hierarchies During a Categorization Task: An Event-Related Brain Potentials Study

Sabela Fondevila et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Evidence so far shows that status detection increases attentional resources, especially for high hierarchies. However, little is known about the effects of masked social status cues on cognition. Here, we explore the masked priming effects of social status cues during a categorization task. For this purpose, we use Event-Related brain Potentials (ERP) time-locked to the presentation of two types of artworks (Christian, non-Christian) primed by masked social hierarchies sorted into two types (religious, military), and in two ranks (high, low) each. ERP results indicate early attention effects at N1, showing larger amplitudes for the processing of artworks after high and military ranks. Thereafter, the P3a increased for all artworks primed by religious vs. military figures, indicating a relevant role of task demands at this processing stage. Our results remark the automaticity of hierarchy detection and extend previous findings on the effects of social status cues on complex cognitive processes.

Keywords: N1; P3; event related-brain potentials; masked priming; object processing; social hierarchy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Examples of the subliminal primes (from left to right): a colonel (military type, high rank), a soldier (military type, low rank), a cardinal (religious type, high rank), and a priest (religious type, low rank). (B) Examples of target stimuli: Christian artwork (left) and non-Christian artwork (right). (C) Experimental procedure.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
tPCA: factor loadings after Promax rotation. Temporal factors 5 (N1) and 1 (P3) are depicted in black.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Grand averages target-locked for (A) status rank (left) and status type (right) effects in N1 at Pz channel; (B) status type effect in P3a at F3 channel.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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