The role of self-referencing in true and false recognition in young people and healthy older people

Abstract

Background: Given the uneven results about the role self-referencing plays in false recognition, we planned an experiment that would allow us to analyze whether self-referencing affects false recognition, and its relationship with healthy aging. Method: A sample of healthy older people (n = 30) and another sample of young people (n = 38) rated whether 40 personality-trait adjectives (20 with a positive valence and 20 with a negative valence) described them or not (self-referencing condition). They then took a recognition test of these adjectives along with 40 other new adjectives. Next, they rated whether 40 other different adjectives described a third person or not (other-referencing condition), and then performed another similar recognition test. These two conditions were counter-balanced across participants. Results: The results clearly showed that self-referencing produces both an increase in true recognition and a decrease in false recognition in both samples. Conclusions: Our results support the idea that self-referencing reduces false recognition by using conscious monitoring strategies, and that self-referencing is a suitable cognitive method for enhancing older individuals’ impaired memory.