A role for self-referential processing in tasks requiring participants to imagine survival on the savannah

This paper examines the role of self-reference as a possible mechanism underlying the superior recall found with survival processing. I suggest that previous failures to find comparable recall with self-referential encoding may be due to neglecting to ensure that task instructions require episodic retrieval. The studies reported herein show that when instructions explicitly request episodic retrieval, self-referential processing promotes recall that is statistically equivalent to that found with survival processing tasks. I conclude that the role of self-referential processing remains a viable component of the excellent memory produced by survival encoding instructions.