Abstract
Previous studies found better recognition memory for the sentences with second-person pronoun than the sentences with first- or third-person pronouns. This result is explained by the notion that because the second-person pronoun elicits a deeper simulation of reader's sensorimotor experience related to the presented sentence. The present study investigated the effect of pronouns for recognition memory of text written in Japanese, which is one of the pro-drop languages. Participants read and encoded the three sentences scenarios preceded by ‘I’, ‘You’, or ‘s/he’. After a 10-min filler task, participants performed a recognition task. Inconsistent with the previous studies, recognition sensitivity (d’) did not show any differences among the pronouns. We interpret this result as evidence that mental simulation of perspectives evoked by pronouns does not occur or does not affect recognition memory even if the simulation occurs in the Japanese language.
