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Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
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Exploring early self-referential memory effects through ownership.

Sheila J Cunningham1, Francis Vergunst, C Neil Macrae

  • 1Division of Psychology, University of Abertay Dundee, UK. s.cunnignham@abertay.ac.uk

The British Journal of Developmental Psychology
|August 2, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Young children show a self-reference effect (SRE) in memory for owned items, demonstrating that self-referential biases in cognition emerge early. This memory advantage for self-owned toys decreased with age.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • The self-reference effect (SRE) is a well-documented memory enhancement for self-related information.
  • The developmental trajectory of the SRE in early childhood remains unclear due to limitations of standard experimental tasks.
  • Self-ownership paradigms have shown potential in eliciting SRE in adults.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the presence and developmental course of the SRE in 4- to 6-year-old children.
  • To adapt the SRE task for young children using an ownership paradigm.
  • To explore potential predictors of the SRE in early childhood.

Main Methods:

  • Sixty-four children aged 4–6 years participated.
  • Children sorted toy pictures into sets based on self- and other-ownership.
  • A surprise recognition memory test assessed recall for owned items.

Main Results:

  • A significant memory advantage was found for self-owned toys compared to other-owned toys.
  • The magnitude of this self-ownership memory advantage decreased with increasing age.
  • Neither verbal ability nor theory of mind attainment correlated with the SRE's strength.

Conclusions:

  • Early childhood memory is influenced by self-referential biases, similar to adult cognition.
  • The ownership paradigm effectively demonstrates the SRE in young children.
  • The SRE in early childhood is not solely dependent on verbal skills or theory of mind development.