AUTHOR=Peng Shenli , Zhang Ling , Xu Runzhou , Liu Chang Hong , Chen Wenfeng , Hu Ping 

TITLE=Self-Construal Priming Modulates Ensemble Perception of Multiple-Face Identities

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01096

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01096

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>This study explored the modulatory role of independent/interdependent self-construal on ensemble perception. Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of self-construal on ensemble coding of multiple-face identities (Experiment 1) and dot size (Experiment 2) separately. Before the implicit ensemble perception task, participants in both experiments were either primed with independent or interdependent self-construal <italic>via</italic> a well-validated pronoun circle task, in which they were exposed to either singular (“<italic>I</italic>,” “<italic>me</italic>,” and “<italic>my</italic>”) or plural (“<italic>We</italic>,” “<italic>us</italic>,” and “<italic>our</italic>”) pronouns in essays. The results showed that interdependent self-construal (vs. independent self-construal) featured as global processing and emphasizing interconnectedness with others enhanced the ensemble coding of high-level features (e.g., identity in Experiment 1) but not of low-level features (e.g., size in Experiment 2). To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to investigate the role of self-construal on ensemble representations. In sum, the results of the current study supported the domain-specific mechanism of ensemble perception on one hand, and extended the effect of self-construal on single face recognition to multiple face recognition on the other hand.</p>