Using the self as a reference point at encoding produces a memory advantage over other types of encoding activities. Even simply co-presenting a target item with self-relevant versus other-relevant information can produce an "incidental" self-memory advantage in the absence of any explicit task demand to evaluate the item's self-relevancy. In the present study, we asked whether an incidental self-memory advantage results from (a) the mere co-presentation of a target item with self-relevant information at encoding or (b) relational processing between a target item and self-relevant information at encoding. During incidental encoding, words were presented in two different colors either above or below a name (the participant's own or another person's). Participants judged either the location of each word in relation to the name ("Is the word above or below the name?") or the color of each word to which the name had no relevance ("Is the word in red or green?"). In a subsequent memory test, we found a self-memory advantage for both items and their associated source features in the location judgment task but not in the color judgment task. Our findings show that a memory advantage for a target item presented with self-relevant versus other-relevant information is more likely when a task agenda places, via relational processing demands, the self-relevant/other-relevant information in the focus of attention along with the target item. Potential processes that mediate this attention-dependent effect are discussed.

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Co-presenting an item with self-relevant vs. other-relevant information at encoding can produce a self-memory advantage in the absence of any task demand to process the item's self-relevancy. The present study examined (a) whether this "incidental" self-memory advantage would extend beyond highly self-relevant information such as one's own name to include information relevant to one's family member, specifically one's mother, and (b) if and to what extend individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures differentially affect the magnitude of the potential mother-memory advantage. During encoding, American and Moroccan participants were presented their own name, their mother's name, or another person's name simultaneously with the to-be-processed target words to which they made location judgments in relation to the name in the middle. In a subsequent memory test, we found that both Moroccan and American participants showed a significant memory advantage for target words and their associated source feature (i.e., the name each word was presented with at encoding) that were presented with their own name or their mother's name compared with those presented with another person's name. There was no significant effect of culture on the magnitude of a mother-memory advantage. Our findings provide evidence for the presence of an incidental mother-reference effect and further suggest that future studies are necessary to fully determine the effect of culture on the emergence of this incidental mother-memory advantage.