Self-reference effect in an independence/remember-know procedure

Abstract

The self-reference effect was examined using the IRK (independence/ remember-know, Jacoby, 1998) procedure. In the learning phase, participants were asked to rate trait words in one of the three ways of encoding: self-reference, semantic, and physical. In the test phase, they were told to use a word-stem as a cue to recall studied words, if they could not recall, to complete stems with the first word that came to mind. Furthermore, participants were to classify the completed words into those they "remembered," those they "knew," or "new." Estimates derived from the IRK procedure showed the self-reference effect only for the intentional memory (i.e., the "remembered" items), but not for the automatic memory. Results suggested that the self-reference effect is due to intentional use of memory.