Abstract
Self-referencing (i.e., thinking about oneself during encoding) can increase attention toward to-be-encoded material, and support memory for information in adults and children. The current inquiry tested an educational application of this ‘self reference effect’ (SRE) on memory. A self-referential modification of literacy tasks (vocabulary spelling) was tested in two experiments. In Experiment 1, seven-to nine-year-old children (N = 47) were asked to learn the spelling of four nonsense words by copying the vocabulary and generating sentences. Half of the children were asked to include themselves as a subject in each sentence. Results showed that children in this self-referent condition produced longer sentences and increased spelling accuracy by more than 20%, relative to those in an other-referent condition. Experiment 2 (N = 32) replicated this pattern in real-word learning. These findings demonstrate the significant potential advantages of utilizing self-referential encoding in the classroom.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 54-60 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Learning and Instruction |
Volume | 40 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Date of Acceptance: 07/08/2015Research Groups and Themes
- Cognitive Science
Keywords
- Self
- Memory
- Literacy
- Engagement
- Attention
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Dr David J Turk
Person: Academic , Member