Electrophysiological evidence of encoding in self-referential effect

Although the self-referential effect was widely supported by several previous studies, there was few event-related potential (ERP) evidence for the encoding mechanism of the self-referential effect. The present study employed ERPs to investigate whether the electrophysiological indices of the encoding processing could predict the retrieval processing in the self-referential paradigm. Behavioral results demonstrated better performance in the self-reference condition than other-reference condition. The N400 and LPP for the subsequent memory effect (the Dm effect) were observed in both self-referential and other-referential trials as shown in the ERP results of the encoding processing. Moreover, the self-referential information had higher amplitudes for subsequently remembered trials. The study also showed correlation between the ERP components in the encoding phase and those in retrieval. These findings suggest that the self-referential effect can be due to more effective encoding process, which in turn predicts better later recall performance.

Source: NeuroReport - August 6, 2019 Category: Neurology Tags: Clinical Neuroscience Source Type: research