Loneliness is associated with greater cognitive distance between the self and a close friend

Abstract

Loneliness describes the distressing experience associated with perceived social disconnection. Despite the clear links between loneliness and mental and physical health, relatively little is known about how loneliness affects cognition. To assess the effects of loneliness on cognitive distance between the self and others, participants completed an implicit memory task for adjectives encoded in relation to the self, a close friend, or a celebrity. We assessed item memory accuracy and sensitivity, and depth of processing was assessed through source monitoring and metamemory performance. In addition, participants reported their trait loneliness and depression. An overall self-referential advantage was identified compared with both friend and celebrity encoded items. Likewise, a friend-referential advantage was identified compared to celebrity-encoded items. Metacognitive sensitivity (sensitivity of confidence for correct and incorrect responses) and metacognitive bias (confidence regardless of accuracy) showed a similar pattern. Lonelier individuals showed a greater self-referential bias in comparison to words encoded in relation to a close friend, coupled with a smaller friend-referential bias in comparison to words encoded in relation to celebrity. More depressed individuals also showed a greater self-referential bias in comparison to words encoded in relation to a close friend, but this did not explain the relationship with loneliness. Therefore, perceived social isolation (loneliness) is reflected in a greater cognitive distance between self and close friends and this operates independent of depression. The results have important implications for understanding the social contextual effects on memory and the cognitive ramifications of loneliness.

Exploring the Relationship Between Loneliness and Social Cognition in Older Age

“…Correlation analyses indicated that people who made more egocentric errors on the interactive reference assignment task and were more susceptible to egocentric interference on the visual perspective-taking task were more likely to self-report higher levels of loneliness and feelings of social isolation. This pattern is consistent with previous research that has shown a positive relationship between loneliness and a greater egocentric bias (Kokici et al, 2021) and suggests that people experience increasing levels of loneliness and feelings of social isolation with increasing age and that this age-related increase in loneliness leads to higher egocentric tendencies. However, mediation analyses showed that the effect of loneliness on egocentric tendencies in the interactive reference assignment task and visual perspective-taking task was not direct and instead only influenced these processes due to the increased experience of loneliness in older age.…”

Opposing Association of Situational and Chronic Loneliness with Interpersonal Distance

“…They rate their feelings of connection to close others lower than non-lonely people [25] and also report less intimacy, comfort, and understanding, as well as more caution and distrust in their relationships [26]. When reflecting on the self or close others, lonely individuals show a reduced representational similarity between the self and other on a neural level [27] and they demonstrate a greater cognitive distance between the self and a friend [28]. However, does this mean they have different preferences regarding interpersonal space and distance?…”

Negative Comments and Social Media: How Cognitive Biases may Contribute to Body Image Concerns

“…Regarding valence effects on metamemory, inconsistent findings have been presented. For example, greater metacognitive sensitivity has been shown for long term memory (a week) of positive items (Legrand et al, 2021) and for short-term memory (an hour) for negative items (Kokici et al, 2021). As metacognition reflects how we think about our own thinking, individuals with affective disturbances may present with diminished confidence in their ability, in line with previously discussed negativity biases or feelings of helplessness (Drueke et al, 2022).…”

“…An individual with high metacognitive sensitivity is highly confident for correct responses and expresses lower confidence for incorrect responses. Previous research suggests a SRE is also apparent in metamemory (Kokici et al, 2021). Regarding valence effects on metamemory, inconsistent findings have been presented.…”

“…The self-reference effect (SRE) in episodic memory describes a phenomenon whereby information is preferentially encoded when it is related to the self, subsequently enhancing recall or recognition (Rogers et al, 1977). For example, a SRE has been identified for recognising adjectives directed at the self, compared with both close others (family or friends) and familiar celebrities (Argembeau et al, 2010;Kuiper, 1982;Kokici et al, 2021;Martin et al, 2017). The SRE in episodic memory is robust and provides an ideal experimental tool to assess self-biases in encoding and/or recognizing positive or negative image-related information.…”