Self-Versus Other-Referent Processing at Encoding and Retrieval

Abstract

The interactive roles of encoding and retrieval processes were examined in relation to self-versus other-referencing in an incidental recognition-memory experiment. At encoding, subjects made either a self-or other-referent judgment about each of a large number of traits. At test, retrieval cues were varied by having subjects make a self-referent judgment, an other-referent judgment, or no judgment about each original trait plus an equal number of new traits. The trait words were more accurately recognized when retrieval cueing reinstated the original encoding context (whether self-or other-referent) than when it instated the other context. In addition, although self-referent encoding yielded better memory than other-referent encoding in the self-referent and no-cue retrieval conditions, other-referent encoding yielded equally good memory in the other-referent retrieval condition. Although self-referent trait judgments were more consistent than other-referent judgments, consistency did not mediate the memory effects. It was suggested that the greater efficacy of self-referent encoding may stem in part from the interactive roles of encoding and retrieval operations in conjunction with a habitual tendency to process trait information with reference to the self