Does one’s own name attract visual attention?

Does one’s own name attract attention? To answer this question, the present study conducted four experiments. Experiment 1 replicat-ed Bundesen, Kyllingsbaek, Houmann, and Jensen (1997) and found no evidence for attentional attraction by observer’s own name. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that Bundesen et al.’s two arguments did not explain the null effect. Experiment 4 directed the ob-server’s set to identify names and revealed attentional attraction by observer’s own name. These four experiments, using Japanese names, revealed that attentional attraction to the observer’s name depends on the observer’s set. Key words: attentional attraction, observer’s set, visual cocktail party effect