The hidden Self - Self-identification in criminal situations

This study examined how crime-related contextual information modulates self-identification through auditory and visual identity cues. Using a simulated-crime paradigm, two experiments tested recognition of self-voice and self-face under three contextual conditions: self-relevant crime information, self-irrelevant crime information, and self-relevant non-crime information. Experiment 1 examined self-voice recognition. Participants responded faster under self-relevant contexts than under self-irrelevant crime information, suggesting that contextual self-relevance may facilitate auditory identity processing by increasing semantic engagement. Experiment 2 examined self-face recognition. Participants showed a self-face advantage under self-irrelevant crime and self-relevant non-crime contexts, but this advantage disappeared when crime-related information was directly linked to the self. Supplementary Ex-Gaussian analyses indicated that this modulation was mainly reflected in the μ parameter rather than in σ or τ, suggesting a shift in the central tendency of self-face responses rather than increased response variability or extreme slowing. Exploratory HDDM analyses further suggested that contextual effects were associated with changes in evidence accumulation.