Using the Self-Referent Effect for a Better Memory

The way the self-referent effect works is that if you can relate the
information to yourself, you will better remember it. Psychologists
have found this association again and again, when they have asked
subjects to decide if a particular word could apply to themselves,
rather than just trying to remember the word based on how it looks
or sounds, or on its meaning.9 One reason is that as you think about
how something relates to you, you make it more distinctive and you
elaborate on what that word means to you. The same process works
when you think about anything, such as how someone you have just
met might be able to help you or how you might be able to use a
new product you are reading about in your own life. As you think
about it, you make that information more distinctive and you elaborate
on it by considering what it means to you. You might also be
more likely to continue to think about it, a process that psychologists
call ‘‘rehearsal,’’ as you repeatedly call up a new idea, name, or any
other sort of new information.
Intriguingly, psychologists have found that this self-reference
approach lights up a particular area of the brain—the right prefrontal
cortex, which researchers suggest may be an area of the brain
associated with the concept of self.10 So as you use these various
techniques—for deep processing—such as finding ways to increase
the way a particular bit of information relates to you—it has a direct
effect on your brain processing, too. No wonder these techniques
work so well. You are not only creating more meanings and associations
for words and relating them to yourself, but your actions are
activating your brain centers involved with language and your sense
of self. 30