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The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis

Symons, Cynthia S., Johnson, Blair T.·1997·Psychological Bulletin

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Abstract

In this review, the authors examine the basis for the mnemonic superiority that results from relating material to the self. A meta-analysis confirms the expected self-reference effect (SRE) in memory, with self-referent encoding strategies yielding superior memory relative to both semantic and other-referent encoding strategies. Consistent with theory and research that suggest self-reference (SR) produces both organized and elaborate processing, the SRE was smaller (a) when SR is compared with other-reference (OR) rather than semantic encoding and (b) when the comparison tasks promote both organization and elaboration. Thus, the SRE appears to result primarily because the self is a well-developed and often-used construct that promotes elaboration and organization of encoded information. The authors discuss the implications of these and other findings for theories of the SRE and for future research.

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Brom, C., Hannemann, T., Stárková, T., Bromová, E., & Děchtěrenko, F. (2017) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.01.001 · Cited by 26
Responsible Remembering and Forgetting in Younger and Older Adults
Murphy, D. H., & Castel, A. D. (2022) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/0361073x.2022.2033592 · Cited by 23
“…their friend was responsible for remembering may be attributable to the self-reference effect whereby people better remember items that are arbitrarily associated with themselves rather than to others (see Gutchess, Kensinger, Yoon, & Schacter, 2007; Symons & Johnson, 1997; Zhang et al., 2020).”
Background
Can I Get me out of my Head? Exploring Strategies for Controlling the Self-Referential Aspects of the Mind-Wandering State during Reading
Sanders, J. G., Wang, H.-T., Schooler, J. W., & Smallwood, J. (2016) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1216573 · Cited by 29
How and when AR technology affects product attitude
Xu, L., Zhang, L., Cui, N., & Yang, Z. (2019) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-03-2019-0221 · Cited by 28
Talkabout: Making Distance Matter with Small Groups in Massive Classes
Kulkarni, C. E., Cambre, J., Kotturi, Y., Bernstein, M. S., & Klemmer, S. (2015) · Understanding innovation · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19641-1_6 · Cited by 23
Changes in the relationship between self‐reference and emotional valence as a function of dysphoria
Watson, L. A., Dritschel, B., Jentzsch, I., & Obonsawin, M. C. (2008) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1348/000712607x248689 · Cited by 23
“The self-reference effect refers to the phenomenon that individuals have better recall for information presented in a self-referent context when compared with information presented in other-referent and semantic contexts (Symons & Johnson, 1997).”
BackgroundMethod
Age Differences in Neural Response to Stereotype Threat and Resiliency for Self-Referenced Information
Colton, G., Leshikar, E. D., & Gutchess, A. H. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00537 · Cited by 23
Revisiting experiential marketing: a Delphi study
Davey, A., Sung, B., & Butcher, L. (2023) · Journal of Brand Management · doi:10.1057/s41262-023-00333-w · Cited by 48
“…of experience, has considered the ‘self-reference effect’, the psychological process of relating information to the self (Klein and Kihlstrom 1986; Symons and Johnson 1997), demonstrating the mnemonic superiority of this kind of information processing as a result of higher levels of processing…”
Unscrambling the Dynamics of Danger: Scientific Foundations and Evidence for the Looming Vulnerability Model and Looming Cognitive Style in Anxiety
Riskind, J. H. (2024) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-024-10481-1 · Cited by 25
“Dynamic looming stimuli may be more deeply processed due to their activation of self-referent processing, as the Self operates as a superordinate schema (Rogers et al., 1977; Symons & Johnson, 1997).”
Self-Referential Processing Predicts Social Cognitive Ability
Dinulescu, S., Alvi, T., Rosenfield, D., Sunahara, C. S., Lee, J., & Tabak, B. A. (2020) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550620902281 · Cited by 30
“These findings are consistent with the idea that, as a part of the human self-serving bias (Symons & Johnson, 1997), positive stimuli should have processing priority in healthy individuals when they help to maintain a positive self-concept (Sedikides & Green, 2000).”
BackgroundResult
Are you as important as me? Self-other discrimination within trait-adjective processing
Hudson, A., Wilson, M., Green, E. S., Itier, R. J., & Henderson, H. A. (2020) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105569 · Cited by 22
Memory and Self-knowledge in Young Adults with ADHD
Klein, S. B., Gangi, C. E., & Lax, M. L. (2010) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298861003741604 · Cited by 25
“…found that judging trait adjectives for selfdescriptiveness (e.g., ‘‘Does XXX describe you?’’) leads to better recall than does structural (e.g., ‘‘Printed in capital letters?’’) or semantic (e.g., ‘‘Means the same as XXX?’’) encoding of the same material (see Symons & Johnson, 1997, for a review).”
BackgroundInfluential
Self-referencing and false memory in mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Rosa, N. M., Deason, R. G., Budson, A. E., & Gutchess, A. H. (2015) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/neu0000186 · Cited by 22
“Self-reference aids memory by connecting new information to the self (Symons & Johnson, 1997) allowing for deeper processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) and better organization of information (Klein & Kihlstrom, 1986).”
Background
Learning from scientific texts: personalizing the text increases transfer performance and task involvement
Dutke, S., Grefe, A. C., & Leopold, C. (2015) · European Journal of Psychology of Education · doi:10.1007/s10212-015-0281-6 · Cited by 22
“Several studies have shown that information that was subjected to self- 13 von 23 02.12.19, 09:08 reference judgments is easier to recall than information that was processed without individual reference to the learner (e.g., Rogers et al. 1977; Symons and Johnson 1997).”
BackgroundInfluential
Combining conscious and unconscious knowledge within human-machine-interfaces to foster sustainability with decision-making concerning production processes
Arnold, M. G. (2018) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.070 · Cited by 22
Transfer of episodic self-referential memory across amnesic identities in dissociative identity disorder using the Autobiographical Implicit Association Test.
Marsh, R. J., Dorahy, M. J., Verschuère, B., Butler, C., Middleton, W., & Huntjens, R. J. C. (2018) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000377 · Cited by 22
Component processes of conceptual priming and associative cued recall: The roles of preexisting representation and depth of processing.
Ramponi, C., Richardson‐Klavehn, A., & Gardiner, J. M. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.5.843 · Cited by 22
That’s me in the spotlight: neural basis of individual differences in self-consciousness
de Caso, I., Poerio, G. L., Jefferies, E., & Smallwood, J. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx076 · Cited by 21
“Instead, selfreference is thought to improve memory because of the rich network of associations associated with ourselves which in turn allows for the formation of stronger memory traces (Symons and Johnson, 1997).”
Background
Ordinary memory processes shape Flashbulb memories of extraordinary events
Talarico, J. M., & Rubin, D. C. (2017) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315623481-5 · Cited by 22
More or less of me and you: self-relevance augments the effects of item probability on stimulus prioritization
Svensson, S. L., Golubickis, M., Maclean, H., Falbén, J. K., Persson, L. M., Tsamadi, D., Caughey, S., Sahraie, A., & Macrae, C. N. (2021) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-021-01562-x · Cited by 22
Response tendencies due to item wording using eye-tracking methodology accounting for individual differences and item characteristics
Koutsogiorgi, C. C., & Michaelides, M. P. (2022) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-021-01719-x · Cited by 24
“…is consistent with studies that suggest an advantage in processing of self-relevant information in the level of memory (“self-reference effect” in memory; see Symons & Johnson, 1997), that is linked to the initial devotion of attention and encoding of self-relevant cues (Turk et al., 2013).”
BackgroundResultInfluential
Playing by the rules: Self-interest information influences children’s trust and trustworthiness in the absence of feedback
Reyes‐Jaquez, B., & Echols, C. H. (2014) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.10.002 · Cited by 21
“It is known that higher self-involvement can induce greater cognitive performance, as in the finding that stimuli associated to the self are better remembered (e.g., Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977; Symons & Johnson, 1997).”
Background
Preferential processing of self-relevant stimuli occurs mainly at the perceptual and conscious stages of information processing
Tacikowski, P., & Ehrsson, H. H. (2016) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.013 · Cited by 21
“…that the mental representation of the self is richer and has a more structured organization than mental representations of other objects; thus, a new piece of information is more easily incorporated into the self-concept than into other concepts (Greenwald & Banaji, 1989; Symons & Johnson, 1997).”
Residual effects of emotion are reflected in enhanced visual activity after sleep
Bennion, K. A., Payne, J. D., & Kensinger, E. A. (2016) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-016-0479-3 · Cited by 21
Whose ideas are most fixating, your own or other people's? The effect of idea agency on subsequent design behaviour
Neroni, M. A., & Crilly, N. (2018) · Design Studies · doi:10.1016/j.destud.2018.05.004 · Cited by 24
Temporal self-compression: Behavioral and neural evidence that past and future selves are compressed as they move away from the present
Brietzke, S. C., & Meyer, M. L. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2101403118 · Cited by 23
“For example, self-reﬂection is preferentially associated with portions of MPFC (32, 33, 71–73) and self-relevant information is privileged in memory (71, 73).”
Can the memory enhancement of the survival judgment task be explained by the elaboration hypothesis?: Evidence from a memory load paradigm1
Nouchi, R. (2012) · Japanese Psychological Research · doi:10.1111/j.1468-5884.2012.00531.x · Cited by 21
Appearance-based inferences bias source memory
Cassidy, B. S., Zebrowitz, L. A., & Gutchess, A. H. (2012) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-012-0233-1 · Cited by 21
“This may relate to a visual effect of selfreference (Symons & Johnson, 1997) in memory, referring to the tendency to remember more information that relates to oneself over material with less personal relevance.”
Measuring Religiousness and Spirituality: Issues, Existing Measures, and the Implications for Education and Wellbeing
Hill, P. C., & Maltby, L. E. (2009) · International handbooks of religion and education · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_3 · Cited by 21
“Symons and Johnson (1997) demonstrated that people recall a higher number of adjectives when describing a target if the target is intimate (as opposed to familiar, but not intimate).”
Background
Ego-identity and the processing of self-relevant information
Dunkel, C. S., & LaVoie, J. C. (2005) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298860500220542 · Cited by 21
“In addition, reviews of the SRE research have been written (eg, Kihlstrom, Cantor, Albright, Chew, Klein, & Niedenthal, 1988 ), and a meta-analysis including over 100 experiments has been conducted (Symons & Johnson, 1997 ).”
BackgroundInfluential
Impact of career shocks on Indian MBA careers: an exploratory study
Nair, V. G., & Chatterjee, L. (2020) · Career Development International · doi:10.1108/cdi-11-2018-0297 · Cited by 22

Authors: Symons, C. S., & Johnson, B. T.
Affiliations: Houghton University (US)
Corresponding author: Symons, Cynthia S.
ORCID: Johnson, Blair T.
Venue: Psychological Bulletin
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1997
Volume: 121
Issue: 3
Pages: 371-394
ISSN: 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
1939-1455
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.121.3.371
OpenAlex: W2167106897
Cited by: 1,361
References: 102
Citations by year: 2026: 61 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 79 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 76 · 2021: 105 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 72 · 2017: 69 · 2016: 65 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 58 · 2013: 71 · 2012: 53
FWCI: 2.71
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
OpenCommons - UConn (University of Connecticut) (submittedVersion)
Funders: Syracuse University
National Institutes of Health (7k21mh001377-06)
National Institute of Mental Health (MH01377-01)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords: self-reference effect, semantic encoding, elaborative processing, information organization, encoding strategies
MeSH terms: Adult, Attention, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Self Concept, Verbal Learning

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The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis

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