Self-reference and the encoding of personal information.

TLDR

The self functions as a superordinate schema deeply involved in processing, interpreting, and remembering personal information. The study examined how the self influences processing of personal information. Participants rated adjectives under four encoding conditions—structural, phonemic, semantic, and self‑reference—to assess self‑involvement. Adjectives rated under self‑reference were recalled best, demonstrating that self‑reference is a rich and powerful encoding process.

Abstract

The degree to which the self is implicated in processing personal information was investigated. Subjects rated adjectives on four tasks designed to force varying kinds of encoding: structural, phonemic, semantic, and self-reference. In two experiments, incidental recall of the rated words indicated that adjectives rates under the self-reference task were recalled the best. These results indicate that self-reference is a rich and powerful encoding process. As an aspect of the human information-processing system, the self appears to function as a superordinate schema that is deeply involved in the processing, interpretation, and memory of personal information.