Abstract
Self-reference effect (SRE) is defined as better recall or recognition performance when the materials that are memorized refer to the self. The SRE paradigm usually requires participants to explicitly refer items to themselves, but some researchers have found that the SRE also can occur for implicitly self-referenced items. Few studies though have investigated the effect of self-related stimuli without awareness. In this study, we presented self-related (participants’ names) or other (other’s names or nouns) stimuli for a very short time between masks and then explicitly presented subsequent trait adjectives to participants. Recognition performance showed no significant differences between the own-name and the other two conditions in Experiment 1 that had random-order conditions. On the other hand, the result of Experiment 2 that had block-order conditions and greater prime stimuli suggests that SRE can occur as a result of the instantaneous stimulus: Subjects who showed better memory performance also had relatively high recognition of the trait adjectives that they viewed after their instantaneously presented own-name. This effect would show that self-representation can be activated by self-related stimuli without awareness and that subsequent items are unconsciously referenced to that self-representation.
Highlights
In our daily lives, we often prioritize the perception and processing of self-related stimuli over stimuli unrelated to the self
The study by Tao et al (2012) indicated that participants showed a self-positivity bias by the subliminal self-face with an interocular suppression technique. These results suggest that self-related information evokes implicit self-evaluative processes, even when presented subliminally, and that those processes work as a special prime stimulus for another subsequent stimulus (Tao et al, 2012)
To investigate the effect of the desirability of trait adjectives on recognition performance, ANOVA was conducted with the desirability as a factor, and a significant main effect of the desirability was found [F (2, 52) = 20.55, ƞ2 = 0.10]
Summary
We often prioritize the perception and processing of self-related stimuli over stimuli unrelated to the self. In line with this effect, that we treat self-related stimuli in a special way (Bundesen et al, 1997; Shapiro et al, 1997; Devue and Bredart, 2008; Keyes and Dlugokencka, 2014). Prior cognitive functions bias our memory for self-referenced items, a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect (SRE; Greenwald and Banaji, 1989). The SRE is defined as better recall or recognition performance when the memorized materials refer to the self. When participants judge words that are descriptive of themselves, they recall or recognize those words better than words that describe others. Various hypotheses about the SRE cognitive mechanisms have been
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