The self-reference effect is a tendency for people to encode information differently depending on whether they are implicated in the information. When people are asked to remember information when it is related in some way to themselves, the recall rate can be improved. [1]
In 1955, George Kelly published his theory about how humans create personal constructs. This was a more general cognitive theory based on the idea that each individual's psychological processes are influenced by the way they anticipate events. This lays the groundwork for the ideas of personal constructs. [2] Attribution theory [3] is an explanation of the way people attribute the causes of behavior and events, which also involved creating a construct of self, since people can explain things related to themselves differently from the same thing happening to someone else. Related to the attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error [4] is an explanation of when an individual explains someone's given behavior in a situation through emphasis on internal characteristics (personality) rather than considering the situation's external factors. Studies such as one by Jones, Sensenig, and Haley [5] corroborated the idea that the self has a special construct, by simply asking experiment subjects to describe their "most significant characteristics". The results showed that the majority of responses were based on positive characteristics such as "sensitive", "intelligent", and "friendly". This ties in very well with other cognitive phenomena such as illusory superiority, in that it is a well observed fact that people rate themselves differently from how they rate others. In 2012, Stanley B. Klein published an article on the self and memory and how it relates to the self-reference effect. In recent years, studies on the self-reference effect have shifted from identifying mechanisms to using the self-reference as a research tool in understanding the nature of memory. Klein discusses words encoded with respect to oneself (the self-relevance effect) are recalled more often than words that are unrelated to the self. [6]
In Japan, regarding memory, people who showed higher altruism tend not to exhibit self-reference effect. [7]
In the past 20 years plus there has been an increase in cognitive neuroscience studies that focus on the concept of the self. [8] These studies were developed in hopes of determining if there are certain brain regions that can account for the encoding advantages involved in the self-reference effect. A great deal of research has been focused on several regions of the brain collectively identified as the cortical midline region. Brain imaging studies have raised the question of whether neural activity in cortical midline regions is self-specific. A quantitative meta-analysis that included 87 studies, representing 1433 participants, was conducted to discuss these questions. [9] The analysis uncovered activity within several cortical midline structures in activities in which participants performed tasks involving the concept of self. Most studies that report such midline activations use tasks that are geared towards uncovering neural processes that are related to social or psychological aspects of the self, such as self-referential judgments, self-appraisal, and judgments of personality traits. Also, in addition to their perceived role in several forms of self-representation, cortical midline structures are also involved in the processing of social relationships and recognizing personally familiar others. Studies that show midline activations during understanding of social interactions between others or ascribing social traits to others (impression formation) typically require subjects to reference the mental state of others. [10]
There are several areas within the cortical midline structure that are believed to be associated with the self-reference effect. One of the more active regions involved in the self-reference effect appears to be the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the area of the brain that is believed to be involved in the planning of complex behavior and the expression and regulation of personality characteristics in social situations. The implication that the prefrontal cortex is involved in the regulation of unique internal personality characteristics illustrates how it may be an important component of the self-reference effect. The medial prefrontal cortex in both hemispheres has been proposed as a site of the "self model" which is a theoretical construct made of essential features such as feelings of continuity and unity as well as experience of agency. [11]
The idea of the self-reference effect being linked to the medial prefrontal cortex stems from several experiments attempting to locate the mechanisms involved in the self-referencing process. Experiments in which participants were assigned tasks that required them to reflect on, or introspect about their own mental states showed activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. For example, activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex has been observed in tasks in which participants report on their own personalities or preferences, adopt a first person perspective, or reflect on their current affective state. Similar activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is displayed in cases where participants show the memory advantage that emerges when items are encoded in a self-relevant manner. [12] During various functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests conducted while participants were performing self-referential tasks, there was a consistent showing of increases in blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signals in the ventral medial and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. [13] Measuring BOLD signals is necessary for a sound interpretation of fMRI signals, as BOLD fMRI reflects a complex monitoring of changes in cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume and blood oxygenation. [14]
In addition to areas of the prefrontal cortex, research has suggested that there are areas within the parietal lobe that also play a role in activating the self-reference effect. During fMRI given during self-referential tasks there also appeared to be increases in BOLD signals within the medial and lateral parietal cortex [13] To further determine whether or not the medial parietal lobe plays a role in self-referencing, participants were subjected to transcranial magnetic stimulation over the region. Stimulation over this region produced a decrease in the ability of participants to retrieve previous judgments of mental self when compared to the retrieval of judgment of others. [15]
The development of a sense of self and the understanding that one is separate and uniquely different from others is vital in the development of the self-reference effect advantage. As young children grow, their sense of self and understanding of the world around them is continuously increasing. Although this occurs at different stages for each child, research has shown rather early development of the self-reference advantage. Research focusing on the recall abilities of children have shown the self-referencing advantage in children as young as five years old. [16] Language development appears to play a significant role in the development and use of the self-reference effect. Verbal labeling is among the first strategic behaviors shown by young children in order to enhance memory, and as children progress in age and language development, their performance on memory tasks involving self-referencing increases. [16] A study done in 2011 on preschoolers found that observations on children as young as three years old suggests that the self-reference effect is apparent in event memory, by their ability to self-recognize. [17]
Like children, the continuous development of a self-concept is related to the development of self-referencing in individuals. The relationships formed with intimate others over the lifespan appear to have an effect on self-referencing in relation to memory. The extent to which we include others in our self-concept has been a topic of particular interest for social psychologists. Theories of intimacy and personal relationships might suggest that the self-reference effect is affected by the closeness of a relationship with the other used as a target. Some researchers define closeness as an extension of self into other and suggest that one's cognitive processes about a close other develop in a way so as to include that person as part of the self. Consistent with this idea, it has been demonstrated that the memorial advantage afforded to self-referenced material can be diminished or eliminated when the comparison target is an intimate other such as a parent, friend, or spouse [18] The capacity for utilizing the self-reference effect remains relatively high throughout the lifespan, even well into old age. Normally functioning older adults can benefit from self-referencing. Ageing is marked by cognitive impairments in a number of domains including long-term memory, but older adults' memory performance is malleable. [19] Memory strategies and orientations that engage "deep" encoding processes benefit older adults. For example, older adults exhibit increased recall when using self-generated strategies that rely on personally relevant information (e.g., important birthdates) relative to other mnemonic strategies. However, research has shown that there are some differences between older adults and younger adults use of the self-reference advantage. Like young adults, older adults exhibit superior recognition for self-referenced items. But the amount of cognitive resources an individual has influence on how much older adults benefit from self referencing. Self-referencing improves older adult's memory, but its benefits are restricted regardless of the social and personally relevant nature of the task. [19] A reason for this change in self referencing may be the change in brain activation that has been observed in older adults when studying self-referencing. Older adults showed more activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and along the cingulate gyrus than young adults. Because these regions often are associated with self-referential processing, these results suggest that older adults' mnemonic boost for positive information may stem from an increased tendency to process this information in relation to themselves. It has been proposed that this "positivity shift" may occur because older adults put more emphasis on emotion regulation goals than do young adults, with older adults having a greater motivation to derive emotional meaning from life and to maintain positive affect. [20]
Students are often challenged when faced with the attempt to recall memories. It is therefore important to understand the effects of self-reference encoding for students and beneficial ways it can increase their recall of information. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of, self-referent encoding.
Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker (1977) performed one of the first studies examining the self-reference effect making it a foundational article. The focus of the study was to identify the importance of the self and how it is implicated when processing personal information. [21] The self-reference effect has been considered a robust encoding strategy and has been effective over the past 30 years (Gutches et al., 2007). The process behind this study was to gather students and divide them into four different task groups and they would be asked to give a yes or no answer to a trait adjective being presented to them. The four tasks that were used were: structural, phonemic, semantic, and self-reference. There were some different theories that support the study. The personality theory stressed that the observer's network when looking at the trait adjectives is an essential part of how they process personal information Hastorf et al. (1970). Another theory that supports this study is the attribution theory. It is another example where a person's organization traits fit with the self-reference effect Jones et al. (1971). The self is visualized as a schema that is involved with processing personal information, interpretation, and memories which is considered a powerful and effective process (Rogers et al., 1977).
Gutchess, Kensinger, and Schacter (2007) performed a study where they used age as a factor when looking at the self-reference effect. The first and second experiment looks at the young and older adults and they are presented with encoded adjectives and they must decide if it describes them. The third experiment is deciding if they found these traits desirable towards themselves. The age difference was shown effective with the self-reference effect leaving the older adults showing superiority of recognition for self-referenced items that were relative. Although, self-referencing the older adults did not have the same restoring level as the younger adults. A major factor that played in this study was the availability of cognitive resources. When there was a greater availability of cognitive resources, the ability to enhance memory similarly for both young and older adults diverged from socioemotional processing (Gutches et al., 2007).
Hartlep and Forsyth (2001) performed a study using two different approaches when studying for an exam. The first approach was the survey, question, read, reflect, recite, and review method which is called the SQR4. The other method was the self-reference method. The third group was a controlled group and received no special instructions on their studying process (Hartlep & Forsyth, 2001). This study is considered an applied study. People who have a more elaborative cognitive framework, the better they will be able to retrieve a memory. The most elaborative cognitive framework someone can have is knowledge of themselves (Hartlep & Forsyth, 2001). The self-reference effect is viable when having strict lab conditions. When students are studying, if they can see the material as an elaboration of what they already remember or can relate to personal experiences, their recall would be enhanced (Hartlep & Forsyth, 2001). Although, the self-reference method can enhance recall of memory in certain instances, unfortunately for this study, there were no significant differences between the two study methods.
Serbun, Shih and Gutchess (2011) performed a study involving the effects of general and specific memory when using the self-reference effect. The study created a gap in research due to the experiments being tested. The first experiment uses visuals details of objects where the second and third experiment use verbal memory to assess the self-reference effect. The self-reference effect enhances both general and specific memory and can improve the accuracy and richness of a memory (Serbun et al., 2011). We know how the self-reference effect works, but instead of using trait adjectives to assess recall, we are looking at trait adjectives. The results from the experiments show that self-referencing does not function only through the increase in familiarity or general memory for the object, but enhances memory for details of an event. This likely draws on more recollected processes. This information supports that self-referencing is effective of encoding a rich, detailed memory towards not only general memory, but specific memories.
(Nakao et al., 2012) performed a study to show the relation between the self-reference effect and people that are highly in altruism and low in altruism. This all starts with the medical prefrontal cortex (MPFC). People who are high in altruism did not show the self-reference effect compared to the participants low in altruism. The participants who frequently chose the altruistic behavior refer to the social desirability as a backboard (Nakoa et al., 2012). The relation the self-reference effect and altruism is the MPFC. When using the self-reference effect, people who are low in altruism, the same part of the brain is being used. Whereas the same is for people who are high in altruism when using social desirability. Social desirability ties into the different types of memory enhancement can vary for individual differences of past experiences. People's individual differences can show similar effects as the self-reference effect (Nakoa et al., 2012).
The self-reference effect is a rich and powerful encoding process that can be used multiple ways. The self-reference effect shows better results over the semantic method when processing personal information. [22] Processing personal information can be distinguished and recalled differently with age. The older the subject, the more rich and vivid the memory can be due to the amount of information the brain has processed. The self-reference just as effective as the SQR4 method when study for exams, but the self-reference method is preferred. Defining general and specific memories using objects, verbal cues, etc. can be effective when using the self-reference effect. When using these different method, the same part of the brain is being active resulting in relation and better recall. It was expected that participants would recall the most number of words from the self-referent list rather than from the semantic or structural lists and more words from the semantic list than from the structural list. It was also expected that for the words encoded in the self-referent condition, fewer words would be recalled by participants in the high altruism group than in the low altruism group.
Research suggests that the self-reference effect is connected to personal survival among the human race. [23] There is this survival effect which is defined as the enhancement of memory when encoding material meant for survival, which has shown to have a significant correlation with the self-reference effect. [24] The interesting thing is research has found that this memory enhancement does not work when given by another person; in order for it to work, it must come from the person themselves. [23] As this advancement of encoding incoming memories is an evolutional mechanism that we the human race has inherited from the challenges faced by our ancestors. [25] Nairne et al. (2007) noted that our advanced ability to recall past events may be to help us as a species to solve issues, which would relate to survival. [25] Weinstein et al. (2008) concluded in their study that people are able to encode and retrieve information that is related to survival more than information that doesn't relate to survival. [26] However, it is important to note that researchers theorize that there is not just one kind of self-reference effect that people pose, rather a group of them for different purposes other than survival. [27]
Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, but some theorists consider the two forms of memory distinct, assuming that working memory allows for the manipulation of stored information, whereas short-term memory only refers to the short-term storage of information. Working memory is a theoretical concept central to cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience.
Recall in memory refers to the mental process of retrieval of information from the past. Along with encoding and storage, it is one of the three core processes of memory. There are three main types of recall: free recall, cued recall and serial recall. Psychologists test these forms of recall as a way to study the memory processes of humans and animals. Two main theories of the process of recall are the two-stage theory and the theory of encoding specificity.
In neuroanatomy, the precuneus is the portion of the superior parietal lobule on the medial surface of each brain hemisphere. It is located in front of the cuneus. The precuneus is bounded in front by the marginal branch of the cingulate sulcus, at the rear by the parieto-occipital sulcus, and underneath by the subparietal sulcus. It is involved with episodic memory, visuospatial processing, reflections upon self, and aspects of consciousness.
Episodic memory is the memory of everyday events that can be explicitly stated or conjured. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at particular times and places; for example, the party on one's 7th birthday. Along with semantic memory, it comprises the category of explicit memory, one of the two major divisions of long-term memory.
In cognitive psychology and neuroscience, spatial memory is a form of memory responsible for the recording and recovery of information needed to plan a course to a location and to recall the location of an object or the occurrence of an event. Spatial memory is necessary for orientation in space. Spatial memory can also be divided into egocentric and allocentric spatial memory. A person's spatial memory is required to navigate around a familiar city. A rat's spatial memory is needed to learn the location of food at the end of a maze. In both humans and animals, spatial memories are summarized as a cognitive map.
The Levels of Processing model, created by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972, describes memory recall of stimuli as a function of the depth of mental processing. More analysis produce more elaborate and stronger memory than lower levels of processing. Depth of processing falls on a shallow to deep continuum. Shallow processing leads to a fragile memory trace that is susceptible to rapid decay. Conversely, deep processing results in a more durable memory trace. There are three levels of processing in this model. Structural processing, or visual, is when we remember only the physical quality of the word E.g how the word is spelled and how letters look. Phonemic processing includes remembering the word by the way it sounds. E.G the word tall rhymes with fall. Lastly, we have semantic processing in which we encode the meaning of the word with another word that is similar or has similar meaning. Once the word is perceived, the brain allows for a deeper processing.
In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. It is the association cortex in the frontal lobe. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA46, and BA47.
Self-referential encoding is a method of organizing information in one's memory in which one interprets incoming information in relation to oneself, using one's self-concept as a background. Examples include being able to attribute personality traits to oneself or to identify recollected episodes as being personal memories of the past. The implications of self-referential processing are evident in many psychological phenomena. For example, the "cocktail party effect" notes that people attend to the sound of their names even during other conversation or more prominent, distracting noise. Also, people tend to evaluate things related to themselves more positively. For example, people tend to prefer their own initials over other letters. The self-reference effect (SRE) has received the most attention through investigations into memory. The concepts of self-referential encoding and the SRE rely on the notion that relating information to the self during the process of encoding it in memory facilitates recall, hence the effect of self-reference on memory. In essence, researchers have investigated the potential mnemonic properties of self-reference.
Memory has the ability to encode, store and recall information. Memories give an organism the capability to learn and adapt from previous experiences as well as build relationships. Encoding allows a perceived item of use or interest to be converted into a construct that can be stored within the brain and recalled later from long-term memory. Working memory stores information for immediate use or manipulation, which is aided through hooking onto previously archived items already present in the long-term memory of an individual.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a part of the prefrontal cortex in the mammalian brain. The ventral medial prefrontal is located in the frontal lobe at the bottom of the cerebral hemispheres and is implicated in the processing of risk and fear, as it is critical in the regulation of amygdala activity in humans. It also plays a role in the inhibition of emotional responses, and in the process of decision-making and self-control. It is also involved in the cognitive evaluation of morality.
Autobiographical memory (AM) is a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic and semantic memory. It is thus a type of explicit memory.
In psychology, context-dependent memory is the improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same. In a simpler manner, "when events are represented in memory, contextual information is stored along with memory targets; the context can therefore cue memories containing that contextual information". One particularly common example of context-dependence at work occurs when an individual has lost an item in an unknown location. Typically, people try to systematically "retrace their steps" to determine all of the possible places where the item might be located. Based on the role that context plays in determining recall, it is not at all surprising that individuals often quite easily discover the lost item upon returning to the correct context. This concept is heavily related to the encoding specificity principle.
Arthur Paul Shimamura was a professor of psychology and faculty member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focused on the neural basis of human memory and cognition. He received his BA in experimental psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1977 and his PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Washington in 1982. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Larry Squire, where he studied amnesic patients. In 1989, Shimamura began his professorship at UC Berkeley. He has published over 100 scientific articles and chapters, was a founding member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and has been science advisor for the San Francisco Exploratorium science museum.
The effects of stress on memory include interference with a person's capacity to encode memory and the ability to retrieve information. Stimuli, like stress, improved memory when it was related to learning the subject. During times of stress, the body reacts by secreting stress hormones into the bloodstream. Stress can cause acute and chronic changes in certain brain areas which can cause long-term damage. Over-secretion of stress hormones most frequently impairs long-term delayed recall memory, but can enhance short-term, immediate recall memory. This enhancement is particularly relative in emotional memory. In particular, the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and the amygdala are affected. One class of stress hormone responsible for negatively affecting long-term, delayed recall memory is the glucocorticoids (GCs), the most notable of which is cortisol. Glucocorticoids facilitate and impair the actions of stress in the brain memory process. Cortisol is a known biomarker for stress. Under normal circumstances, the hippocampus regulates the production of cortisol through negative feedback because it has many receptors that are sensitive to these stress hormones. However, an excess of cortisol can impair the ability of the hippocampus to both encode and recall memories. These stress hormones are also hindering the hippocampus from receiving enough energy by diverting glucose levels to surrounding muscles.
Memory supports and enables social interactions in a variety of ways. In order to engage in successful social interaction, people must be able to remember how they should interact with one another, whom they have interacted with previously, and what occurred during those interactions. There are a lot of brain processes and functions that go into the application and use of memory in social interactions, as well as psychological reasoning for its importance.
Childhood memory refers to memories formed during childhood. Among its other roles, memory functions to guide present behaviour and to predict future outcomes. Memory in childhood is qualitatively and quantitatively different from the memories formed and retrieved in late adolescence and the adult years. Childhood memory research is relatively recent in relation to the study of other types of cognitive processes underpinning behaviour. Understanding the mechanisms by which memories in childhood are encoded and later retrieved has important implications in many areas. Research into childhood memory includes topics such as childhood memory formation and retrieval mechanisms in relation to those in adults, controversies surrounding infantile amnesia and the fact that adults have relatively poor memories of early childhood, the ways in which school environment and family environment influence memory, and the ways in which memory can be improved in childhood to improve overall cognition, performance in school, and well-being, both in childhood and in adulthood.
An identity disturbance is a deficiency or inability to maintain one or more major components of identity. These components include a sense of continuity over time; emotional commitment to representations of self, role relationships, core values and self-standards; development of a meaningful world view; and recognition of one's place in the world.
The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC or DMPFC is a section of the prefrontal cortex in some species' brain anatomy. It includes portions of Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA24 and BA32, although some authors identify it specifically with BA8 and BA9. Some notable sub-components include the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the prelimbic cortex, and the infralimbic cortex.
The mere ownership effect is the observation that people who own a good tend to evaluate it more positively than people who do not.
Social cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the biological processes underpinning social cognition. Specifically, it uses the tools of neuroscience to study "the mental mechanisms that create, frame, regulate, and respond to our experience of the social world". Social cognitive neuroscience uses the epistemological foundations of cognitive neuroscience, and is closely related to social neuroscience. Social cognitive neuroscience employs human neuroimaging, typically using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Human brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct-current stimulation are also used. In nonhuman animals, direct electrophysiological recordings and electrical stimulation of single cells and neuronal populations are utilized for investigating lower-level social cognitive processes.
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