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Self-Reference Effect and Self-Reference Recollection Effect for Trait Adjectives in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2018

Nicole Carson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
R. Shayna Rosenbaum
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) Program, York University and Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Morris Moscovitch
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Neuropsychology & Cognitive Health, Baycrest Health Sciences and Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Kelly J. Murphy
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology & Cognitive Health, Baycrest Health Sciences and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Nicole Carson, Behavioural Sciences Building, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. E-mail: ncarson1@yorku.ca

Abstract

Objectives: The self-reference effect (SRE), enhanced memory for self-related information, has been studied in healthy young and older adults but has had little investigation in people with age-related memory disorders, such as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Self-referential encoding may help to improve episodic memory in aMCI. Additionally, self-referential processing has been shown to benefit recollection, the vivid re-experiencing of past events, a phenomenon that has been termed the self-reference recollection effect (SRRE; Conway & Dewhurst, 1995). Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the valence of stimuli influences the appearance of the SRE and SRRE. Methods: The current study investigated the SRE and SRRE for trait adjective words in 20 individuals with aMCI and 30 healthy older adult controls. Ninety trait adjective words were allocated to self-reference, semantic, or structural encoding conditions; memory was later tested using a recognition test. Results: While healthy older adults showed a SRE, individuals with aMCI did not benefit from self-referential encoding over and above that of semantic encoding (an effect of “deep encoding”). A similar pattern was apparent for the SRRE; healthy controls showed enhanced recollection for words encoded in the self-reference condition, while the aMCI group did not show specific benefit to recollection for self-referenced over semantically encoded items. No effects of valence were found. Conclusions: These results indicate that while memory for trait adjective words can be improved in aMCI with deep encoding strategies (whether self-reference or semantic), self-referencing does not provide an additional benefit. (JINS, 2018, 24, 821–832)

Information

Type
Regular Research
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2018 

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