Malleability of Self- and Now-Prioritizations via Performance Contingent Incentives

Prioritizing immediate self (me, now) over distant (other, future) information is an essential social cognition for effectively guiding actions at hand. Building upon recent research on the nuanced nature of prioritization effects, we sought to explore whether such biases could be modulated by external rewards, thereby enhancing task saliency. Our results (N = 161) demonstrated that while the prioritization effects on response speed remained robust against performance contingent rewards, the effects on accuracy were susceptible to modulation. Specifically, rewards amplified the prioritization effects for both self- (vs other) relevant and immediate (vs future) information. These findings suggest a potential overlap in processing mechanisms between social and temporal domains. Our study contributes novel evidence to the understanding of prioritization effects, highlighting their malleability by external factors. Future investigations should explore additional factors influencing these biases, shedding light on their functional roles in information prioritization.