Abstract
Although self-reference often facilitates recall, this effect is not always obtained, and the present experiments were designed to discover when self-reference produces better memory than other reference does. In Experiment 1, subjects decided either whether trait adjectives described themselves, their mothers, and Ronald Reagan, or whether each of these persons used different objects (nouns). On an incidental recall task, traits that had been paired with the self were remembered better, but the opposite effect was obtained for nouns. In Experiment 2, an imagery explanation of the differential effects of nouns and traits was investigated. Regardless of imagery instructions, self-reference enhanced recall for traits but not for nouns. Self-reference seems to facilitate memory only when the to-be-remembered materials are part of the self- or some other known-person schema. Traits—but not nouns—fit this description.
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We would like to thank Kathleen M. Brady, Eva Miller, Mary Ann Roalkvam, and Michael W. Vasey for helping to conduct the experiments and Janice M. Keenan for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
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Maki, R.H., McCaul, K.D. The effects of self-reference versus other reference on the recall of traits and nouns. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 23, 169–172 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329817