The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

In this review, the authors examine the basis for the mnemonic superiority that results from relating material to the self. A meta-analysis confirms the expected self-reference effect (SRE) in memory, with self-referent encoding strategies yielding superior memory relative to both semantic and otherreferent encoding strategies. Consistent with theory and research that suggest self-reference (SR) produces both organized and elaborate processing, the SRE was smaller (a) when SR is compared with other-reference (OR) rather than semantic encoding and (b) when the comparison tasks promote both organization and elaboration. Thus, the SRE appears to result primarily because the self is a well-developed and often-used construct that promotes elaboration and organization of encoded information. The authors discuss the implications of these and other findings for theories of the SRE and for future research.Throughout the history of psychology, researchers have used the self as a central part of their explanations of various phenomena (see Banaji & Prentice, 1994;G. T. Greenwald & Pratkanis, 1984;and James, 1890). A large body of research suggests that the self-structure is unique, relative to other concepts (e.g., those about other people; see Kihlstrom et al., 1988;Markus, 1977;and Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977), in its motivational and affective implications as well as in its structure and content. Social psychologists have long posited an important affective role for the self-concept (e.g., C. W. Sherif, Sherif, & Nebergall, 1965;M. Sherif & Cantril, 1947). More recently, appraisal theories of emotion have emphasized the phenomenological importance of the self in the interpretation of events and the resulting effect on emotions (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). From a motivational standpoint, examples of the self's pervasive influence abound. For example, the tendency to attribute another person's behavior to dispositional factors but one's own behavior to situational factors presumably occurs because the self dominates one's phenomenal perspective (Ross & Nisbett, 1991;Storms, 1973). Similarly, both self-serving biases and defense mechanisms have been attributed to self-protective or self-enhancing

Does category labeling lead to forgetting?

“…In Experiment 1, we showed that we can produce similarly reduced memory performance for other tasks that do not obviously overlap with basic-level category labeling (e.g., judging the orientation of an familiar object). Our data suggest that a critical feature of the original results may not be that labeled items are forgotten as much as making preference judgments for objects results in superior memory relative to a variety of other incidental encoding tasks (Symons & Johnson, 1997). Experiment 2 examined a secondary finding in Lupyan (2008) which found that typicality ratings could also results in lower memory compared to a preference judgement task.…”

“…Consistent with this view, Lupyan (2008) found that response times were typically longer for preference judgments than for labeling trials, indicating that participants may have been processing the items more deeply. In addition, numerous studies have demonstrated a memory advantage for encoding items in relation to the self (see Symons & Johnson, 1997 for a review).…”

Cognitive and neuroimaging evidence of impaired interaction between self and memory in Alzheimer's disease

“…Indeed, in these studies, retrieval performance is better for information that has been encoded in reference to the self than for information that has been processed semantically or in reference to other people. This wellknown cognitive phenomenon, named the Self Reference Effect (SRE; Rogers et al, 1977), is a strong characteristic of human cognition since it has been observed in various populations including healthy older people (Gutchess et al, 2007), with various materials and various paradigms at encoding and recognition and with different designs (for a review see Symons and Johnson, 1997).…”

Is Self Special? A Critical Review of Evidence From Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.

“…More general reviews of related areas have addressed episodic memory and the frontal lobes (Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997), self as an organization of knowledge (Greenwald, 1980), autobiographical memory (Conway & Rubin, 1993), and the development of autobiographical memory (Fitzgerald, 1986;Howe & Courage, 1997). Symons and Johnson (1997) provide a review of the literature on the self-reference effect in memory, which is discussed below in the context of several of the studies in this area. Klein, Loftus, and others have done significant work on the nature of trait selfknowledge (e.g., Klein, Babey, & Sherman, 1997;Klein, Loftus, & Plog, 1992;Klein, Loftus, & Sherman, 1993;Klein, Sherman, & Loftus, 1996), as well as work on the nature of trait otherknowledge (e.g., Klein & Loftus, 1990;Klein, Loftus, Trafton, & Fuhrman, 1992).…”