The role of personality variables on memory source monitoring

Objective: Source monitoring is the ability to identify the original source of information retrieved from memory, which is often a critical aspect of remembering (Johnson et. al 1993). Observing performing an action can induce false memories of having actually performed it: this effect is called observation inflation (Lindner et al. 2010). The aim of this study was to assess whether individual traits of personality may influence subjects’ performance in a source monitoring task. Methods: Personality traits have been evaluated administering Personality Style Questionnaire (Picardi et al., 2003). Participants were divided into two groups: inward personalities (i.e more body perception bounded) and outward personalities (i.e. more externally anchored) (Arciero & Bondolfi et al., 2009). Subjects observed actions, some of which they had not performed earlier, and took a source memory test after one week. We evaluated the percentage of occurrence of the observation inflation effect and of the incorrect responses coded as “not performed” action after the observation of the experimenter. Results: We found that the observation inflation effect occurs in both groups without significant statistical difference between groups. Moreover, a higher percentage of incorrect responses coded as “not performed” actions was obtained by outward subjects.  4 Conclusions: The higher proportion of incorrect responses in outward subjects can be explained by the fact that they are more focused on an externally anchored coordinate system, with a weak awareness of their body. In addition, this preliminary study shows that personality traits and cognitive performance are interrelated domains in source monitoring processes.