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It is well established that processing information in relation to oneself (i.e., self-referencing) leads to better memory for that information than processing that same information in relation to others (i.e., other-referencing). However, it is unknown whether self-referencing also leads to more false memories than other-referencing does. In the current two experiments with European and East Asian samples, we presented participants the Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists together with their own name or other people's name (i.e., BTrump^in Experiment 1 and BLi Ming^in Experiment 2). We found consistent results across the two experiments; that is, in the self-reference condition, participants had higher true and false memory rates compared with those in the other-reference condition. Moreover, we found that self-referencing did not exhibit superior mnemonic advantage in terms of net accuracy compared with other-referencing and neutral conditions. These findings are discussed in terms of theoretical frameworks such as spreading activation theories and the fuzzytrace theory. We propose that our results reflect the adaptive nature of memory in the sense that cognitive processes that increase mnemonic efficiency may also increase susceptibility to associative false memories.

Culture plays a critical role in memory. Memory is also known to be constructive and prone to errors (e.g., false memories). However, little is known about how culture potentially shapes the formation of false memories. We examined the role of culture in shaping various aspects of false memory by comparing European (N = 33) and Chinese (N = 40) samples. In our study, we embedded the Deese-Roediger/McDermott (DRM) pictures in different contexts and paired them with participants' own name or other people's name (e.g., Adele) to create item-personcontext memory episodes. We found that European participants had more phantom recollection for non-presented lure pictures while Chinese participants were more likely to form familiarity for lure pictures. Furthermore, we showed that European participants formed more self-related false memories of item-context bindings than Chinese participants. Our study is the first to show cultural differences in constructive false memories using the DRM paradigm.

PurposeTo retrospectively investigate the possible association between carotid artery calcification score (CS) and cognitive impairment in carotid artery stenosis (CAS) patients.Patients and methodsCarotid artery was measured in 102 patients with cervical carotid arteries using Color Doppler ultrasound, multi-detector row spiral CT angiography and MRI scanning. Correlation analysis between CSs obtained by MD CT and cognitive scores was performed, and the correlation between CSs and vascular stenosis degree and MRI-measured plaque histological (lipid-rich necrotic nucleus [LRNC], intraplaque hemorrhage and fibrous cap surface rupture) and morphological parameters (lumen area [LA], wall area [WA], total area of blood vessels [TVA], plaque burden [PB]) was analyzed. Follow-up review analysis was conducted on 38 postoperative patients.ResultsSignificant negative correlation was discovered between CS value and cognitive scores in CAS patients (R=−0.359, P<0.001), which did not exist in postoperative patients (P=0.348); CS value also showed significant correlation with WA (R=0.521, P=0.042), TVA (R=0.215, P=0.017) and PB (R=0.237, P=0.003) and had a certain predictive value for the occurrence probability of carotid plaque LRNC (P=0.029, AUC =0.780) in preoperative patients.ConclusionCarotid artery CSs have significant correlation with cognitive scores, which could be used as risk factor for early screening of cognitive impairment in CAS patients. The possible mechanism may be related to the calcification impact on the plaque burden.

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