You are not enough: Inefficient search strategies persist for self-relevant targets

Previous investigations have shown that search for an object with a unique identity is more efficient than search based on unique orientation. Here we asked whether giving an orientation target an identity label is sufficient to boost search efficiency. Participants completed two blocks of search for a line (Experiment 1) or a face (Experiment 2) with a unique orientation. Between blocks we induced an identity-based connection between the participant and search target using the self-reference effect (SRE): participants associated the target with themeselves, and distractors with “strangers.” In both experiments, search was similarly inefficient when the instructions were to search “for you” as they were in search for orientation. The results rule out an intuitively appealing explanation for the large individual differences typically observed in search efficiency, and suggest that associating a target with a more meaningful category is not in itself enough to make search more efficient.