A Spontaneous Self-Reference Effect in Memory

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文- A Spontaneous Self-Reference Effect in Memory，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了记忆中自发的自我参照效应。记忆中的自我参照效应是指当要记忆的材料与自我相关时，记忆效率更高。自参照被认为是一种处理信息深度最大的方法。自1977年首次提出这种效应后，心理学家们一直试图通过大量的实验来验证和证明它。然而，以往关于记忆中的自我参照效应的研究大多是通过实验室刺激和显式线索来验证的。这样的设置不会发生在日常生活中，因此可能缺乏对自我参照效应的全面支持。要想解决这一问题，必须在没有明确线索的情况下，在更自然的情境下进行实验，以验证自我参照的积极作用。

The self-reference effect in memory refers to the better memory efficiency when the materials to memorize is associated with the self. Self-reference is considered a way of processing information with the largest depth of processing. After the initial proposal of this effect by Ross in 1977, psychologists have been trying to verify and prove it through numerous experiments. However, most of the previous research on self-reference effect in memory is tested with laboratory stimuli and explicit cues. Such settings do not occur in daily life and therefore may lack comprehensiveness in supporting the self-reference effect. In order to solve this problem, experiments must be conducted with more naturalistic settings without explicit cues to verify the positive effect of self-reference. Based on such motivations, the authors have come up with the hypothesis: “birthdays that are close to a person’s own will provide a memory advantage.” The main research question of the paper is to test the hypothesis.

In order to test the hypothesis, three experiments are conducted, involving different numbers of University of Virginia students as participants. In Study 1, participants were asked to recall the birthdays of ten friends that they were relatively sure of. Then, they were asked to fill in their own birthday in a separate screen. This sequence was to ensure that the recalling process was not primed by the participants’ own birthdays. In Study 2, participants were first asked to write down 10 friends’ names. They were then provided with sheets of paper, on which they were asked to write these friends’ birthdays by memory, verify the birthdays through social media, and finally write down their own birthdays. In Study 3, participants were provided with information about four people that they did not know. They were asked to memorize the four profiles as much as possible. The birthdays of these profiles were programmed according to the individual participants’ birthdays obtained two months prior to the study. Then, they were required to fill in the profiles as much as possible based on their short-term memory.

After obtaining the data and calculating the average distance between the birthdays remembered with the participants’ own birthdays, a graph is created to demonstrate the relationship between the distance of birthdays and how well participants remembered them. It has been found that the shorter distance between the friends’ birthday and their own, the more likely it was for participants to remember them correctly. In contrast, the instance of not being able to remember rises significantly as the distance to their own birth months increased. Such a finding is interpreted as an affirmation of the self-reference effect. The authors interpret the fact of having closer birthdays as a major indicator of triggering the self-reference effect, without the need of explicit and laboratory cues.

Overall, the paper is effective in verifying the self-reference effect within the naturalistic setting. This provides an important addition to existing literature. By paying special attention to the sequence of recalling friends’ birthday and the participants’ own birthday, the studies have successfully eliminated the potential artificially intrigued memory cues, maximizing the imitation of the natural setting. Future possibilities, as listed in the paper, include conducting more research on other significant dates to further verify the self-reference effect. Such dates may include anniversaries, partner’s holidays, etc. Meanwhile, one possible improvement of the studies can also be made. Since the participants were asked to recall birthdays, it is more likely to establish self-reference since others’ birthdays and their own birthdays are of the same category. Further studies may investigate whether similar effects still exist when participants are required to remember dates that are not birthdays. Such a correlation would provide a even stronger support for the self-reference effect in memory.

51due留学教育原创版权郑重声明：原创essay代写范文源自编辑创作，未经官方许可，网站谢绝转载。对于侵权行为，未经同意的情况下，51Due有权追究法律责任。主要业务有essay代写、assignment代写、paper代写、作业代写服务。

51due为留学生提供最好的essay代写服务，亲们可以进入主页了解和获取更多essay代写范文 提供代写服务，详情可以咨询我们的客服QQ：800020041。