心理学报2025，Vol.57Issue(5)：775-791,17.DOI:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0775
7～11岁小学生前瞻记忆的自我参照效应及其认知机制
The self-reference effect in prospective memory and its cognitive mechanisms in elementary school students aged 7 to 11 years
摘要
Abstract
The self-reference effect in prospective memory(PM)refers to the phenomenon in which memory performance for self-referenced planned events or activities,at an appropriate time or situation in the future,is superior to that for other-referenced conditions.Despite its significance,research on the self-reference effect within the realm of PM remains scarce.Elementary school children have a heightened need for PM;thus,focusing on the self-reference effect in this population can provide insights into how they process information related to themselves and others when remembering future events and how the role of"self"can be leveraged to enhance their PM.This study investigated the generation of the self-reference effect in PM and its cognitive mechanisms in elementary school students aged 7-11 years through three experiments,in conjunction with an ownership paradigm. This study employed the ownership paradigm for the first time to investigate the existence of the self-reference effect in the domain of PM among elementary school students,using the perspectives of active selection(Experiment 1)and passive allocation(Experiment 2).Findings indicated that elementary school students exhibited superior memory performance for self-referenced PM targets compared to those referenced by others,regardless of whether ownership was determined through active selection or passive allocation.This finding confirms the existence of the self-reference effect in PM among the elementary school students.Furthermore,compared with the 7-and 9-year-old groups of elementary school students,the 11-year-old group exhibited larger self-reference effect in PM. In Experiment 3,the focus shifted to directly investigating the processing mechanism of the self-reference effect in PM by manipulating the target salience and the cognitive load of the ongoing task to observe changes in cognitive resources.Under a high cognitive load condition,the self-reference effect in PM was absent in the salient and non-salient target conditions among the elementary school students.Conversely,under a low cognitive load condition,the self-reference effect was observed in the non-salient PM targets but not in the salient targets.This study revealed a notable decrease in response speed during the ongoing task under both high and low cognitive load conditions,compared to the baseline condition.In addition,the elementary school students were significantly slower in responding to the PM targets for self-and other-references than to those for the ongoing task and the baseline condition.Furthermore,under low cognitive load,reaction times for the ongoing task before the emergence of PM targets were considerably slower than those after the targets appeared.The findings suggested that cognitive resources were allocated to monitor the potential context of a target before its appearance,and the monitoring of relevant intentions is reduced post-target emergence.Meanwhile,under a high cognitive load,the reaction times for the ongoing task before the appearance of the self-referenced PM targets were also significantly slower than those after the appearance of the targets.However,no such difference was observed in the reaction times before and after the appearance of the other-referenced PM targets. In conclusion,a stable self-reference effect can be observed in the PM of elementary school students when employing the ownership paradigm,with large effects in the upper elementary school grades.The generation of the self-reference effect in PM requires cognitive resources,which are deployed flexibly based on task demands and showcase a dynamic processing characteristic.The finding supports the notion that the self-reference effect in PM involves cognitive resource-intensive dynamic processing,which can further enrich the dynamic processing theory of PM.关键词
前瞻记忆/自我参照效应/认知资源/小学生Key words
prospective memory/self-reference effect/cognitive resource/elementary school student分类
社会科学引用本文复制引用
辛聪,陈幼贞,田蜜,刘国雄..7～11岁小学生前瞻记忆的自我参照效应及其认知机制[J].心理学报,2025,57(5):775-791,17.基金项目
国家自然科学基金青年项目(32200847) （32200847）
江苏省高校哲学社会科学研究重大项目(2022SJZD100). （2022SJZD100）
