ABSTRACT

Changes in context across instances of memory retrieval have been shown to impair memory for acts of prior remembering. The present study examined how self-referential encoding influences memory for prior remembering that occurred with or without context change. At encoding, participants processed each target in cue-target word pairs in relation to themselves or another person. During an initial cued-recall test, targets were tested with either the studied cues or semantically related, but previously unseen cues. During a second cued-recall test, all targets were tested with the studied cues, and participants judged whether they remembered retrieving each target during the first test. Regardless of self/other-reference, semantic context change across the two tests impaired memory for prior remembering. Furthermore, the magnitude of this impairment was larger for strongly self-associated vs. other-associated targets. Our findings suggest that self-referential encoding does not benefit memory for prior remembering in the face of contextual change.

摘要

已显示跨记忆检索实例的上下文变化会损害先前记忆行为的记忆。本研究检查了自我参照编码如何影响在有或没有上下文变化的情况下发生的先前记忆的记忆。在编码时，参与者处理与他们自己或另一个人相关的线索-目标词对中的每个目标。在最初的线索回忆测试中，目标是用研究过的线索或语义相关但以前看不见的线索进行测试的。在第二次线索回忆测试中，所有目标都用研究过的线索进行测试，参与者判断他们是否记得在第一次测试中检索每个目标。无论自我/其他参考如何，两个测试中的语义上下文变化都会损害先前记忆的记忆。此外，对于强烈的自我相关目标与其他相关目标相比，这种损害的程度更大。我们的研究结果表明，面对上下文变化，自我参照编码不利于先前记忆的记忆。