yueyao liu¹ (), pengmin qin², hui chen³; ¹Zhejiang University, ²South China Normal University, ³Zhejiang University

The self-processing advantage (SPA)—prioritized processing of self-relevant stimuli—is widely considered a stable, intrinsic phenomenon. We challenged this view using a novel design that isolates contextual influences on the SPA while holding task structure constant. Across three experiments (N=320), participants searched for a target name among distractor nouns and reported its location. While the name’s identity had to be attended to define the target, it was incidental to the report. A surprise test probed automatic memory for the name. Crucially, we systematically manipulated the relative distinctiveness of the self-stimulus by varying the categorical composition of the target-name pool across experiments. The results showed that the SPA is context-dependent. In the first series of experiments, a robust memory advantage emerged only when the self-stimulus was the most distinctive item relative to the other potential targets. This benefit was self-specific and did not extend to other highly familiar names (e.g., a friend’s name) under comparable distinctiveness conditions. Most critically, when the self-stimulus was embedded in a mixed context that reduced its relative categorical distinctiveness, the SPA was completely eliminated and the processing advantage was instead biased towards contextually novel information. These results provide direct evidence that the SPA is not a fixed attribute of self-representation. Instead, it reflects a flexible, competitive process dynamically shaped by the immediate processing context. We conclude that the self gains cognitive priority only when intrinsic self-relevance aligns with contextual distinctiveness; otherwise, it can be overridden by other salient signals, such as novelty.