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Updated: Sep 4, 2025

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
Development of self-referential effect on memory recollection
Hilary Sweatman1, Ross Lawrence2, Xiaoqian J Chai1
1Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Abstract:
Information learned in relation to oneself is typically better remembered, termed the self-reference effect (SRE). This study aimed to elucidate the developmental trajectory of the SRE in recollection and source memory from mid-childhood to young adulthood. In 2018-2019 in Baltimore, Maryland, 136 seven- to thirty-year-olds (77 female; approximately 80% White, 15% Asian American, 5% Black) viewed objects on one of two backgrounds and answered a self-referential or semantic question for each. A recognition test probed memory for objects and source details (inherent: question type; peripheral: background image). SRE increased with age for detailed recollection (r = .189), but not familiarity, and extended to inherent source memory. This suggests that self-referencing promotes richer memory in children and develops into young adulthood.
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