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The Structure ofAutobiographicalMemory and the EventHistory Calendar:Potential Improvementsin the Quality ofRetrospective Reportsin SurveysRobert F. BelliPublished online: 21 Oct 2010.

To cite this article: Robert F. Belli (1998) The Structure ofAutobiographical Memory and the Event History Calendar: PotentialImprovements in the Quality of Retrospective Reports in Surveys,Memory, 6:4, 383-406, DOI: 10.1080/741942610

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T he Structure of A utob iograp h ica l M em ory an d th e

E vent H istory C alendar: Poten tia l Im provem ents in

the Q uality of R etrospective R eports in Surveys

R obert F . B e lli

U niversity o f M ich igan , U SA

T his pape r review s the lite ra ture on the stru ctu re of autobiog raph ica l m em ory and

po ints to the u se o f even t histo ry calenda rs as a su rvey m e thodo logy tha t re flec ts

th is s tru c tu re . A u tob iog ra ph ica l m e m ory s tru c tu re is cha r ac te r ised a s an

hie ra rch ica l n e tw o rk tha t includes ex tended , sum m arised, and sp ec ific even ts ,

and th at p e rm its re triev al o f p ast even ts th rough m ultip le pa thw ays tha t w o rk top±

dow n in the h ie rarchy , sequen tially w ithin life them es th at un ify extended even ts ,

and in para llel ac ross life th em es that invo lve con tem poraneous and sequen tia l

ev en ts . T rad itio na l su rv ey que s tion s t end to seg m e n t re l a te d a spe c t s o f

au tob iog raphical even ts from one anothe r , and do no t ref lec t th e in te rre la tedness

of even ts as ind ica ted w ithin the stru c tu re of au tobiograph ica l m em ory. In con tra st ,

ev en t h is to ry calenda rs do p rom o te sequen tia l and pa ra lle l retriev a l w ith in the

au tob iog raphical m em ory netw ork. B y re flec ting the stru cture of au tob iog raphical

m em ory , the u se of event history ca lenda rs has con s iderable potentia l in a ss is ting

re sp ondents to recon stru ct the ir p e rsona l pas ts m o re com p le te ly and accu ra tely ,

m axim ising the qua lity o f re tro sp ective repo rts.

INTRODUCTION

The qua lity o f survey research is fundam entally dependen t on the va lid ity of

responden t reports, inc lud ing the ab ility o f responden ts to accura te ly report on

the ir past behav iours, o r even ts tha t they have w itnessed. Survey researchers

have been aw are that psycho log ica l resea rch on au tob iograph ica l m em oryÐ tha t

is, m em ory of one’ s personal pastÐ is re levan t to their goa ls o f understanding

erro rs tha t have been observed in the ir responden ts’ re trospective reports (e.g .

Schw arz & Sudm an, 1994). E rro rs have been found in people ’ s reporting of

w ha t, w hen , and how often even ts have happened (Jobe , Tourangeau , & Sm ith,

1993). B ased o n unders tand ing th e na tu re of au tob iograph ica l m em ory ,

exp lana tions for these erro rs have been sought w ith the ultim ate goal o f

im prov ing the accuracy of su rvey report.

M E M O R Y , 19 9 8 , 6 (4 ), 38 3 ±4 06

R eq ue s ts fo r re p rin ts sh o u ld be sen t to R ob e rt F . B el li, In s ti tu te fo r So c ia l R e se a rc h , U n iv er si ty o f

M ich ig an , A n n A rbo r, M I 4 81 0 6-1 24 8 , U S A . E m a il : bb e ll i@ u m ich .ed u

Ó 1 9 98 Psy ch o lo gy P re ss L td

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I llustra tin g l im ita tions in au tob iograph ica l reca ll, su rvey reports have

revealed gross underreporting of even distinc tive even ts such as hospita lisa tions

(C anne ll, F isher, & B akker, 1965), m otor vehic le acc iden t in ju ries (C ash &

M oss, 1972), and periods of unem ploym ent (M ath iow etz , 1986). L eng th of

re ten tion interva l and dura tion of even t have been show n as facto rs a ffec ting

underreporting . For exam ple, Canne ll e t al. found that responden ts failed to

report on ly 3% of hosp italisations when asked w ithin 1 to 10 w eeks of the even t,

bu t fa iled to report 42% of hosp ita lisa tions w hen asked 1 year a fte r the even t;

Cannell e t a l. a lso found tha t underreporting occurred m ost o ften fo r short-

dura tion hosp ita l stays (1±4 days) . W ith respec t to rem em bering w hen even ts

happened, responden ts tend to report even ts as hav ing occurred m ore recently

than in actua lity, a phenom enon know n as fo rward te lescoping (e .g . B achm an &

O ’ M alley , 1 981 ; T h om pson , Sk ow ronsk i, & L ee , 198 8). In e xp la in in g

te lescop ing , researchers have suggested processes that invo lve eithe r b iases in

tem pora l rep resen ta tion (B radburn, R ips, & Shevell, 1987 ; Brow n, R ips, &

Sheve ll, 1985) or a rtifacts of be ing asked to report w ith in boundar ies that are

im posed by ask ing tem pora l refe rence period questions (H utten locher, Hedges,

& B radburn , 1990; R ub in & Baddeley, 1989). F ina lly , accuracy in reporting

how often even ts happened has been found to be a com plex in terplay of such

variab les as the frequency , sim ilarity , and regu larity o f even ts, the leng th of the

re ten tion in terval, the use of c losed or open-ended questions, and w hether

responden ts engage in enum eration or estim ation processes or som e com bina-

tion of these re trieva l stra teg ies (B row n, 1995 ; Burton & Bla ir, 1991 ; M enon ,

1993 ; M enon , Raghub ir, & Schw arz, 1995).

A l th o u gh su ch w o rk h a s b ee n in fo rm a t iv e , i t h a s la rg e ly ign o re d

psycho log ica l stud ies tha t have focused on the con ten t of autob iograph ica l

know ledge and how such know ledge is o rgan ised and struc tu red (B arsa lou ,

1988 ; Conw ay , 1996 ; L inton , 1986). T h is psycho log ica l w ork has concentra ted

on the invariances that a re found in the rem em bering process as people

reconstruct the ir persona l past. T hese invariances spec ify that certa in types of

au tobiograph ica l m em ories are them atica lly and tem pora lly structu red w ith in an

hie rarch ical o rdering . Furthe r, re trieva l o f ep isod ic info rm ation concerning what

has happened in the past has been show n to be facilita ted by using m em ories

from higher-o rder leve ls as cues (C onway & B ekerian , 1987). A lthough any

part icu la r re tr ieva l usua lly fo llow s one part icu la r pa thw ay th rou gh the

au tobiograph ica l m em ory h iera rchy, the richness of cues that are available

w ith in the au tobiographica l m em ory structu re po ten tiates the ab ility to increase

the quality and com ple teness of re trospec tive reports, by encourag ing the

ac tiva tion of m ultip le pa thw ays a t one tim e.

T h is paper w ill illustrate tha t our p resent understand ing of the struc ture of

au tobiograph ica l know ledge can be used to im prove the quality of survey

responden ts’ re trospective reports of w ha t, w hen , and how often even ts

happened. In illustrating th is po ten tial, the re w ill be spec ia l concen tration on

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an already deve loped techn ique in survey m ethodo logy know n as the even t

h isto ry calendar (C asp i e t a l., 1996 ; F reedm an e t a l., 1988 ; K essler &

W ething ton , 1991). A lthough defin itive stud ies have ye t to be conduc ted tha t

d irectly con trast the effec tiveness of even t histo ry calendars in com parison to

standard survey questions, the use of even t h isto ry ca lendars has been shown to

lead to h igh-quality re trospec tive reports even after re ten tion interva ls o f severa l

years. R em arkab ly , u tilisation of even t histo ry ca lendars relies on the use of bo th

them atic and tem pora l in fo rm ation which has been show n to be so vital as an

aspect o f the struc ture of au tob iograph ica l know ledge. Thus, the success of the

even t history ca lendar is large ly traceab le to the use of m any face ts o f

au tobiograph ica l m em ory struc tu re to im prove the qua lity of retrospec tive

reports . In add ition to d iscussing the even t h isto ry ca lendar, I w ill devo te

atten tion to how this m ethodo logy can po tentially be im proved by an even

grea ter re liance on tem pora l and them atic cues ava ilab le w ithin the organisa tion

of au tob iograph ical know ledge .

Th is paper is d iv ided in to tw o m ajor sections. T he first section w ill

conc en tra te o n w hat is k now n ab ou t the struc tu re o f au tob iograph ica l

know ledge . T he second sec tion w ill illustrate the im plica tions of th is struc ture

tow ards im prov ing the qua lity o f re trospective reports in su rveys.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY STRUCTURE

A utob iograph ical m em ory m ay be best described as involv ing the rem em -

brances of even ts that have been persona lly experienced (N eisse r, 1986).

Persona lly experienced even ts a re struc tured in au tob iograph ica l m em ory by

h ierarch ica lly ordered types o f m em ories fo r even ts that vary in the ir scope and

spec ific ity , and th is struc tu re is o rgan ised a long tem pora l and them atic pa thw ays

w hich gu ide the re trieva l p rocess.

Types of Memories

A lthough there have been slightly divergen t v iews regard ing the various types of

m em ories tha t peop le recover when rem em bering the ir personal past (e.g .

B arsa lou , 1988; Brewer, 1986 ; C onw ay , 1996 ; L in ton , 1986), a sum m ary of th is

litera tu re revea ls three m ain types. The m ost general types of m em ory , w hich

com prises the top and m iddle of the h ierarchy , is for ex tended even ts. M em ories

for ex tended events revea l the tem pora l n atu re of au tob iograph ica l m em ory , as

such even ts a re ex tended in tim e for periods as long as m any years to as short as

just a few days. Com prising the m idd le of the hie rarchy are m em ories fo r

summ arised events , w h ich em phasise the them atic aspec t o f autob iograph ica l

m em ory . In rem em bering sum m arised even ts, ind iv idua ls are considering the

com m on them es tha t underlie events of the sam e kind . F inally, the m ost de ta iled

type of m em ory a t the bo ttom of the hie rarchy is for specific even ts. M em ories

o f spec ific even ts inc lude the percep tua l and ep isodic info rm ation that p rov ides

EVENT HISTORY CALENDARS 385D

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a sense of `re liv ing’ ’ a particu lar ep isode as it o rigina lly occurred . A s the

rem em bering of a spec ific event invo lves reconstruc ting de ta ils from a sing le

event, the tim e-span of these even ts is o f short duration, from m any seconds up

to and including severa l hours (Conw ay , 1996).

E xtended Even ts. A t the top of the h iera rchy , ex tended events com prise the

m ost fundam ental o rgan isa tiona l struc tures, w hich nest all o the r types of

au tobiograph ica l m em ories. Ex tended events m ay span m any years (e.g . ``W hen

I w ork at X ’ ’ ) o r be fairly short in duration , perhaps extend ing fo r just a few

days (e .g . ``trip to W ash ing ton , D C ’ ’ ), and they have iden tifiab le beg inn ings and

end ings (if no t con tinu ing in to the present), although the exact endpo in ts m ay be

fuzzy rather than exac t. In add ition, extended even ts a re often characte rised by

be ing discon tinuous in the ir flow , in w hich o ther ac tiv itie s a re in terspersed

(B arsalou , 1988). For exam ple , one doesn ’ t w ork a t ``X ’ ’ for 24 hours a day .

Additionally , ex tended even ts a re nested w ith in one ano ther (Barsa lou , 1988 ;

Neisse r, 1986), such tha t a larger ex tended even t (e.g . ``first job as law yer’ ’ )

con tains o ther sm alle r ex tended events (e.g . ``pe riod of tra in ing’ ’ ). M oreover,

any particu lar extended even t consists of a tem pora l o rdering of those e lem ents

tha t it con tains, such as the ex tended even t o f ``second m arriage ’ ’ consisting of a

tem pora l sequence of sm alle r extended even ts such as ``falling in love ’ ’ , ``living

toge ther’ ’ , and ``ge tting m arried ’ ’ .

A ccording to som e theorists (C onw ay , 1996 ; Conw ay & R ubin , 1993 ;

L in ton , 1986; Schoo ler & H errm ann , 1992), ce rtain ex tended even ts se rve as

the prim ary organisa tional un its to au tob iograph ica l know ledge and are also

qua li ta tiv ely d if fe ren t f rom other ex tended even ts . T hese m ore prim ary

ex tended even ts, w hich w ill be refe rred to as lifetim e periods (Conw ay ,

1996), rep resen t m ajor them atic div isions in one’ s au tob iography tha t are

particu la rly no tew orthy in dete rm in ing one ’ s concep t o f self (e .g . w ife ,

psycho log ist, son, studen t, e tc .), and the changes in th is concep t o f who one

is across the lifespan (see F ig. 1 fo r an illustration of C onw ay ’ s m ode l). A s

ex tended even ts, lifetim e periods encom pass a certa in bounded period of tim e

(e .g . ``w hen I lived w ith `X ’ ’ ’ ), and nest o ther even ts to w hich they index .

L ife tim es periods are also rela ted by sharing h igher-order them es such as a

re lationsh ips them e and a w ork them e (C onw ay , 1996; L inton , 1986). W ith in

a them e, the life tim e periods are sequen tia lly o rdered by tim e, such tha t

``w hen I lived w ith `X ’ ’ ’ (w ith in re la tionsh ips them e) precedes ``w hen I w as

m arried to `Y ’ ’ ’ . A cross them es, m ore than one lifetim e period m ay overlap

during the sam e period of tim e , depend ing on w hich h igher-o rder them es are

governing one’ s sense of se lf a t tha t m om ent in tim e . For exam ple , the re m ay

be overlap of being a fa ther during ``w hen I w as m arried to `Y ’ ’ ’ w ith being

a cognitive psycho log ist during ``when I w orked at `Z ’ ’ ’ . M oreover, life tim e

periods, and especia lly the them es of w hich they are a part, are no t on ly

based on actual experience , bu t are also governed by shared cultu ra l norm s

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th a t la rge ly de te rm ine th e w ay s in w h ic h the ev en ts o f li fe w i ll be

experienced and interp reted.

Sum m arised Even ts. A m em ory for a sum m arised even t re fers to a class o f

even ts o f the sam e kind , reflec ted in phrases such as ``I w atched T V a lot’ ’ o r ``I

usua lly ate lunch w ith m y dad ’ ’ B arsa lou (1988) found tha t m ost of the

statem en ts in the verba l reports o f peop le w ho w ere stopped on the cam pus of

Em ory University during an au tum n sem ester (and w ho agreed to rela te their

experiences from the past sum m er) w ere in the fo rm of sum m arised even ts. The

FIG. 1. A n illus tra tion of C on w ay ’ s (1 99 6) m o de l of h ie ra rc h ic a l au to b io gra p h ica l k no w led ge

s tru c tur es . C o p yrigh t Ó 19 9 6 b y C am b rid ge U nive rs ity P re ss . R epr in ted w ith p e rm iss io n .

EVENT HISTORY CALENDARS 387D

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prom inence of sum m arised even ts in these reports suggests their im portan t role

in be ing ab le to efficiently com m unica te to o thers (and perhaps to efficiently

rem em ber onese lf) the specifics o f w hat happened during one’ s personal past. In

Conw ay’ s (Conw ay, 1992 , 1996 ; Conw ay & R ubin , 1993) m ode l (see F ig. 1),

sum m arised even ts toge ther w ith the shorter-te rm ex tended even ts (w hich are

no t lifetim e periods) be long to a class o f m em ories dep icting general events ,

wh ich are considered a basic leve l of represen tation (see R osch , 1978, regarding

basic leve l fo r categorisa tion). A s a basic leve l o f rep resen tation , sum m arised

events are no t too genera l, wh ich would lead to an inab ility to convey any thing

spec ific abou t the past, no r too spec ific, in w hich the flow of past even ts cou ld

no t be adequate ly expressed .

Sum m arised even ts a re abstractions of the typ ica l aspec ts o f sim ila r events,

and thus, by th em se lves , p rim arily represen t them atic know ledge abou t

rec urr ing te m p o ra l pa t te rns o f e xp e rie n ce . L in to n (1 9 82 ) d iscu sse d a

sum m arised even t as a sem antic m em ory that form s in the repe tition of tw o

or m ore sim ila r even ts, w ith the episod ic info rm ation fo r any one even t

becom ing lost and on ly the generalised info rm ation from the sem antic m em ory

be ing re tained . Neisse r (1981) in troduced the term rep isodic m em ory to re fer to

the represen ta tion of repea ted ep isodes , w ith the idea tha t rem em bered de tails

m ay reflec t info rm ation in repisodic m em ory and no t be verid ical concerning

any specific even t (a lthough the rem em berer be lieves in their verid icality). In

the w ider p ictu re, the tem poral organ isa tion of extended even ts is perm ea ted to

sum m arised even ts, as sum m arised even ts a re nested w ith in extended events.

For exam ple, an underg raduate ’ s sum m er m ay be represented as an extended

event tha t nests sm alle r extended events such as an early sum m er job , a period of

vacationing , and a la ter period of stay ing at hom e w ith one’ s paren ts; each of the

sm aller extended even ts nest rep resen ta tions of sum m arised events such as

lunches w ith co-w orkers during the job and even ing h ikes during the vacation

(B arsalou , 1988 , p .225).

Specific even ts. A t the bo ttom of the h iera rchy are m em ories fo r spec ific

events. R ichness of au tobiographica l m em ory is gained in the rem em bering of

spec ific even ts, w hich m ay con tain percep tua l and con textual info rm ation tha t

prov ides a sense of re liv ing a past even t. E x tended in tim e , specific even ts, such

as ``tim e I m et Ange la’ ’ , ``saw a p lay ’ ’ , o r ``filled ou t an app lication’ ’ , are best

charac terised as being con tinuous in their tim e course and spanning m inu tes up

to m any hours. W ith in the h iera rchy , spec ific even ts m ay be indexed by

ex tended and/o r sum m arised even ts.

In C onway ’ s (1992 , 1996) m ode l (see F ig. 1 ), the percep tual and con tex tua l

info rm ation (term ed as even t-spec ific know ledge) o f spec ific even ts ex ists as an

und ifferentiated poo l of im ages and de tails. These de tails becom e organ ised

during the reconstruc tive rem em bering process by a ttach ing to the them atic and

tem pora l know ledge structu res o f higher-o rder even ts. In th is v iew , any

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particu lar ep isod ic detail m ay be reconstruc ted w ithin the bounds of m ore than

one spec ific event.

A nderson and C onw ay (1993) exp lored the organ isa tion of even t-spec ific

details w ith in specific au tob iograph ica l m em ories, such as rem em ber ing the

``tim e I m et A nge la’ ’ . T hey discovered tha t ce rta in d istinctive deta ils (e.g .

``dancing w ith A ngela ’ ’ ) encouraged the recogn ition of a specific m em ory as a

w hole, whereas a greate r num ber of deta ils cou ld be rem em bered w hen peop le

recalled events in fo rw ard chrono log ica l order. T hese resu lts suggest tha t

them atic and tem pora l in form ation w ill struc tu re specific ep isodes in m uch the

sam e w ay as they are used to structu re the h igher-order ex tended and

sum m arised even ts. As for rem em bering spec ific events, the d istinctive details

are ind ices to spec ific m em ories from higher-o rder struc tu res, whereas once

indexed , the chrono log ica l o rdering of de ta ils aids in rem em bering m ore of w ha t

had happened .

Thematic and Temporal Pathways

A s w e have seen in the prev ious sec tion ou tlin ing types of autob iograph ica l

m em ories, them atic and tem pora l know ledge serve as the basic o rgan ising

princip les tha t underlie a ll levels of au tobiograph ica l m em ory structu res. For

exam ple , extended and sum m arised even ts are nested w ith in h igher-o rder

ex tended even ts bo th them atica lly (in refe rence to particula r persons and types

of even ts) and tem porally (in re ference to being p laced w ithin a particu lar po int

in tim e on the basis o f life roles and the sequence of even ts). T aken as a w hole,

the tem pora l and them atic o rgan isa tion of au tob iograph ica l know ledge serves as

poin ts o f assoc ia tion am ong these various m em ory types w ith in a rich ne tw ork

of re trieva l pathw ays that com prise th is know ledge . In any particu lar retrieval,

how ever, on ly som e of the ava ilab le pathways are likely to be used .

In desc rib ing the re trieva l o f au tob iograph ical m em ories, resea rchers have

h igh ligh ted one process as being top-dow n in w hich the them atic and tem poral

info rm ation of h igher-o rder structu res cue the rem em bering of m ore spec ific

info rm ation (B arsalou , 1988 ; C onway & B ekerian, 1987). In add ition , however,

peop le nav iga te through au tob iographical know ledge in o ther w ays, such as

w hen they order a sequence of ex tended events, o r w hen they re trieve from

para lle l even ts (Barsa lou , 1988).

Top-dow n R etrieva l. In C onw ay ’ s m odel (A nderson & C onway , 1993 ;

C onw ay, 1996; C onway & B ekerian , 1987 ; Conw ay & R ubin , 1993), lifetim e

periods ho ld the key in con tain ing various types of them atic and tem poral

know ledge concern ing such things as peop le, asp irations, and sign ifican t events.

Such them atic and tem poral knowledge , in a broad sense, se rv es to index m any

genera l even ts tha t are associa ted w ith particu lar life tim e periods. For exam ple,

``liv ing w ith `X ’ ’ ’ con tains them atic and tem pora l info rm ation about the

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re lationsh ip w ith `X ’ w hich w ill index the m em ory for ``ho liday in Ita ly w ith

`X ’ ’ ’ . In add ition , general even ts con ta in them atic and tem poral in fo rm ation

tha t indexes m em ories o f m ore specific events, such as ``d inner w ith `X ’ on our

last n igh t in Rom e ’ ’ . Further, th is m ode l considers th is hie rarch ical o rgan isa tion

as consisting of au tobiograph ica l m em ory organ iza tion packe ts (A -M O Ps) tha t

are tied to the them atic conten ts o f spec ific life periods. Thus, a lthough one

lifetim e period (``living w ith `X ’ ’ ’ ) can be contem poraneous w ith ano ther

lifetim e period (``w hen I w orked a t `Y ’ ’ ’ ), the them atic contents of these

respective lifetim e periods w ould consist of separate A -M OP S that would index

the ir ow n kinds of life even ts. Ev idence tha t favours top-dow n retrieva l w ith in

A-M O Ps is p rov ided by response-tim e stud ies and in the ana lyses of the

pro toco ls o f sub jec ts re trieving specific even ts.

In one response-tim e study, Conw ay and B ekerian (1987) found faster

response tim es in the retrieval o f spec ific even ts, w hich w ere cued by genera l

events, in a cond ition in which life tim e periods w ere used as prim es in

com parison to a no-prim e cond ition . Furthe r, they a lso found that these h igher-

order au tob iographica l m em ory prim es and cues speeded re trieva l in com parison

to o ther types of p rim es and cues tha t w ere based on sem antic ca tegories o r

ac tiv ities. T hese results support the hypo thesis tha t higher-o rder autob iograph i-

ca l m em ories facilita te the re trieva l o f spec ific even ts, as p red ic ted by top-dow n

retrieva l m ode ls.

In ano ther response-tim e study, B row n (1990; Brow n, Sheve ll, & R ips,

1986) dem onstra ted that the response tim es fo r politica l and nonpo litica l

pub lic even ts w as dependent on w hich con tem poraneous periods peop le had

in m ind . Subjects w ere asked to sort pub lic even ts e ithe r as occurring in one

of tw o U S Presiden tial adm inistrations (C arter o r Reagan), o r in one of tw o

lifetim e periods (student in h igh schoo l o r co llege). Sub jec ts w ere se lected

such that they w ere in high schoo l during the Carter adm inistration, and in

co llege during the R eagan adm in istra tion . B row n found tha t political even ts

were sorted m ore qu ickly in to Presiden tia l adm in istra tion periods than they

were sorted in to life tim e periods, bu t that nonpo litica l even ts w ere sorted

m ore qu ick ly into lifetim e than adm inistration periods. A lthough addressing

m ore directly the re la tionsh ip be tw een pub lic and personal even ts rather than

the s tru c tu re of au tob iog rap h ica l m em o ry per se , B ro w n ’ s re su lts a re

sugges tive tha t life tim e periods index d ifferen t aspec ts o f the autob iograph ica l

m em ory base , consisten t w ith the m ode l tha t au tob iograph ical know ledge

consists o f A -M O Ps.

V erbal p ro tocol analyses are a lso supportive of top±dow n retrieval. In one

study , Conw ay (1996 , see C onw ay ’ s figure 3.3 ) p resen ted sub jec ts w ith cue

words (e .g . cha ir, restau ran t) w ith exp lic it instruc tions to use them in re trieving

spec ific events. P ro toco ls revealed sub jec ts w ork ing th rough life tim e periods

and general even ts befo re repor ting the de tails o f spec ific even ts. S im ilar resu lts

were found w ith sub jec ts aged in the ir la te 20s or early 30s who w ere asked to

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report de ta ils of specific even ts tha t occurred w hile they w ere 18 years o ld

(Conw ay & B ekerian , 1987 , p .131).

Sequenc ing and P arallel R etrieva l. In add ition to top-dow n retrieval, there

are re trieva l stra teg ies that involve the chrono log ica l sequenc ing of even ts

w ith in and across them es. These re trieva l strategies appear to becom e apparen t

w hen ind ividua ls are asked to report on the ir au tob iographical past fo r an

ex tended period of tim e , such as in B arsa lou ’ s (1988) study, w hen sub jects w ere

asked to report abou t the past sum m er. T he top-dow n processing observed by

C onw ay (1992, 1996 ; C onw ay & B ekerian , 1987) m ay be m ore apparen t when

ask ing abou t sing le speci fic ep isodes. Thus, the natu re of the request probab ly

affects the retrieva l strateg ies tha t are em ployed .

Re trievals governed by the recall of chrono log ica l events com plem ent

C onw ay’ s (1992, 1996; Conw ay & B ekerian , 1987) em phasis that them atic

con ten t governs autob iograph ica l retrieval. In B arsa lou ’ s (1988) study , although

subjects w ere instructed to reca ll even ts on the basis o f w ha t first com es to m ind,

m ost peop le sta rted the ir reports a t the beg inn ing of the sum m er, w orking

chrono log ica lly through ex tended even ts tha t occurred a t the first part o f the

sum m er. A s B arsalou’ s subjects w ere like ly to be assoc ia ted w ith E m ory

U niversity (they w ere recru ited on cam pus), the boundary betw een spring and

sum m er w ould be a particu larly no tab le transition in daily activ ities w hich

w ould co inc ide w ith the beg inning of sum m er (and the end of the regu lar schoo l

term ). A s found in o ther w ork , w hich has show n tha t even ts tha t occur a t

transition po ints a re m ore m em orab le than o ther even ts (P illem er, Goldsm ith,

Pan ter, & W hite, 1988 ; R ob inson , 1986), sub jec ts beg inning the ir reports a t the

start of sum m er invo lves the use of them atic info rm ation abou t changes in

ac tiv ities tha t are assoc ia ted to a tem pora l loca tion . In a sim ilar ve in , M eans,

N igam , Z arrow , Loftus, and D onaldson (1989) found tha t sub jec ts’ free recalls

o f health even ts for the past year o ften inc luded the chronolog ica l o rdering of

even ts that pertained to the sam e hea lth cond ition . Thus, both the them atic

info rm ation of type of cond ition and the chrono log ica l o rdering of even ts w ere

used in rem em bering these past even ts.

The tem poral sequenc ing of extended even ts as observed by B arsa lou (1988)

ind ica tes the predom inance of a horizonta l ra ther than top±down process. Ye t, as

the re often w as an in term ixing of sum m arised and spec ific even ts in sub jects’

reports , top±dow n processing w as also occurring in these retrieva ls. In add ition

to sequenc ing , Barsalou observed that sub jec ts a t tim es fo llow ed paralle l tracks

o f even ts in w hich one chrono logy of extended even ts dea ling w ith one them e

(e.g . pro jec t a t schoo l) w as fo llow ed in the protoco l by a second chrono logy tha t

w as con tem poraneous w ith the first but dealt w ith a d iffe ren t them e (e.g .

ac tiv ities w ith fam ily m em bers). Sim ila rly , M eans e t a l. (1989) found that w ork-

rela ted even ts were a t tim es used as junctu res to rem em ber health even ts. Th is

jum ping across them atic tracks sugges ts an interrela tionsh ip am ong them atica lly

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diffe ren t extended even ts tha t is no t cap tured by the notion of A -M O Ps, w hich ,

in com parison , cons iders ex tended even ts as be ing la rge ly them atica lly

encapsu lated .

B arsalou (1988) con tends that the ex tended even ts bo th w ithin and across

them es are in terrela ted by the log ic o f goa l a tta inmen t (see F ig. 2 fo r an

illus tra tion ). For exam ple , w ith in a w ork them e, the activ ities o f one ’ s first job

(e .g . A ssistan t Pro fesso r a t `X ’ ) m ay enab le one to develop skills for a second

job (e.g . Assoc iate Professor at `Y ’ ). Across them es, one’ s first job (w ork them e)

m ay be where one m ee ts one ’ s spouse (re la tionsh ip them e), o r losing one ’ s job

m ay con tribute to an eventual d ivorce. Thus, the log ic of goal a tta inm ent is

based on the aspira tions of the se lf, and successes and setbacks in m ee ting these

FIG. 2. A n illus tr ation o f B a rsa lou ’ s (1 9 88 ) n o tio n th a t lo g ic of g oa l a tta in m en t st ru ctu re s

in te rre la te even ts bo th w i th in an d ac ro ss ex ten d ed ev en ts . C op y rig h tÓ

19 8 8 b y C am b rid ge U n iv e rs ity

P re ss . R eprin ted w ith p e rm ission .

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asp irations. T he im portance of goa l attainm ent in au tobiograph ica l m em ory is

shared by C onw ay (1992, 1996 ; C onw ay & Rubin , 1993) w ho argues tha t

au tob iog rap h ica l th em es em e rg e from c han ges to th e se lf -co nce p t a nd

asp irations and fears tha t su rround concep tions of possib le selves (cf. M arkus

& N uriur, 1986). In a v ivid dem onstratio n of goa l attainm ent, Rob inson (1992)

finds tha t verba l reports o f first experience m em ories, such as the first tim e one

drives a car o r the first rom antic rela tionsh ip , are filled w ith descrip tions of how

these even ts had shaped the concep tion of se lf.

In com bina tion w ith top±dow n retrieva l, the no tions of sequencing and

para lle l re trieval outline the existence of num erous in terconnected them atic and

tem pora l pa thw ays tha t can be used to rem em ber spec ific autob iograph ica l

even ts. A lthough on ly a sm all portion of available pa thw ays w ill be used in any

one re trieva l, encourag ing ind ividuals to use the cues tha t are ava ilab le in

m ultip le, in terconnected pa thw ays increases the po ten tia l o f m ax im ising the

qua lity and com ple teness of rem em bered even ts. Th is potentia l of im prov ing the

qua li ty o f au tob io graph ica l rem e m bering , th rough the encouragem ent o f

responden ts to exam ine m ore fully the in te rconnec tions that ex ist w ith in their

au tobiograph ica l ne tworks, has ye t to be fu lly apprecia ted by survey researchers.

The nex t sec tion w ill address this issue m ore fu lly .

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY STRUCTURE ANDSURVEYS

Trad itiona l standard ised survey inte rv iew s tha t ask fo r re trospec tive reports

consist o f a set of d isc rete questions, usua lly abou t specific events, that are

separated by top ic . The University of M ichigan ’ s P ane l S tudy of Incom e

D ynam ics , a su rvey of fam ily econom ics, in itially asks questions abou t housing

(e.g . ``H ave you m oved any tim e since the spring of 1996? . . . W hat m onth and

year w as that? ’ ’ ), then sw itches to em ploym ent (e.g . ``In w hat m onth and year

d id you sta rt w orking in your presen t position?’ ’ ), and then asks questions abou t

tim e away from w ork (e .g . ``D id you m iss any w ork in 1996 because you w ere

sick? . . . H ow m uch w ork d id you m iss? . . . W hen was that? . . .’ ’ ) . A s ano ther

exam ple , the U niversity of M ich igan ’ s H ealth F ield S tudy , a survey based on the

N ationa l H ea lth In terv iew Survey , at one po int asks about hosp ita lisat ions (e.g .

``Since Ju ly 1 , 1996 , have you been a patien t in a hosp ita l overn igh t? . . . H ow

m any different tim es d id you stay in any hospita l overn igh t o r longer since Ju ly

1 , 1996? . . .’ ’ ), then abou t health visits (e.g . ``H ow m any tim es have you gone to

a hosp ital em ergency room abou t you r ow n health since Ju ly 1, 1996? . . . H ow

m any tim es have you seen or ta lked to a m edical doc tor or assistant about your

own health a t a docto r’ s office or at an H M O since July 1 , 1996? . . .’ ’ ) , then

abou t specific hea lth se rv ices (e .g . ``H ave you had a tetanus sho t during the past

ten years? ’ ’ ), and then about in juries (``How m any inju ries, acciden ts, o r

poison ings have you had since July 1st, 1996 that requ ired you to be seen by a

m edica l docto r o r assistant? ’ ’ ).

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In te rm s of the structu re of au tobiographica l m em ory , and m ore specifica lly ,

w ith regard to the num ber of cues tha t can be m ade ava ilab le by encouraging

m ultip le re trieval rou tes, trad itional su rvey question ing m ethods are found

wanting . O n the positive side, su rvey questionna ires genera lly do encourage

top±dow n retrieval. A s survey researchers a re aware of the need to order

questions in w ays tha t fac ilitate sm ooth transitions and op tim ise flow (Sudm an

& Bradburn , 1982), in m ost cases the genera l contex t is in troduced befo re m ore

spec ific questions are asked . M ore nega tive ly , how ever, there is little o r no

encouragem ent for sequencing and para lle l re trieval. Sequencing is encouraged

in situations tha t ask fo r the rem em bering of ex tended even ts, and although

survey questions at tim es do appear in terested in such even ts (no te the questions

on tim e off from work and hosp italisa tions quoted earlier), the ir intent appears to

focus m ore on d iscre te poin ts in tim e rather than on a con tinuous stream of

events. W orse still is the to ta l lack of encouragem ent for para llel retrieva l, tha t

is, the rem em ber ing of in terconnec ted aspec ts o f one ’ s persona l past tha t

assoc iate them es to one another. A s survey questionnaires typ ica lly m ove from

top ic to top ic , respond en ts are encouraged to segm ent their paths in to un its tha t

are largely unre lated to one ano ther. T aken toge ther, the lack of use of cues

ava ilab le in th e st ruc tu re of a u tob iograph ica l m em o ry m a y be la rge ly

responsib le for the errors tha t have been seen in responden ts’ attem pts to report

wha t, w hen , and how often even ts have happened .

Event History Calendars

A diffe ren t approach to ask ing survey questions invo lves the use of even t h isto ry

ca lendars , w hich have cons iderab le po ten t ial in u tilis ing th e top-dow n,

sequential, and parallel cues tha t a re ava ilab le in the structu re of auto -

biograph ica l m em ory . In con trast to trad itiona l su rvey questions tha t em phasise

events as d iscre te occurrences, w ith the even t h isto ry ca lendar, responden ts are

encouraged to consider various even ts that constitu te their personal pasts as

con tained w ithin broader them atic stream s of even ts. N ot on ly can responden ts

no te the inte rrela tionsh ip of events w ith in the sam e them es (top-dow n and

sequential retrieval) but, depend ing on w hich them es are represented by the

ca lendar, responden ts can a lso note the in terrela tionsh ips am ong even ts tha t

ex ist w ithin d iffe ren t them es (parallel retrieva l).

P ioneered by researchers inte rested in life h istories (e.g . Freedm an et al.,

1988), the use of even t h isto ry calendars has been based on the notion tha t life

histor ies consist o f tra jec tories and transitions (E lder, 1985). L ife tra jec tories

are long-term ex tended pa tterns tha t reflect m ajo r dom ains such as w ork , liv ing

arrangem ents, and re lationsh ips, and as such are conceptually sim ilar to them es

as d iscussed in the litera ture on au tob iograph ica l m em ory . T ransitions are

em bedded w ith in tra jec tories and represent po ints in tim e in w hich abrup t

changes occur, such as ge tting m arried or d ivorced , or find ing tha t first job .

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Transitions a re therefo re beg inn ing and endpoin ts o f lifetim e periods or o ther

sign ificant ex tended events. In add ition , the dynam ic aspec t o f the life course

evo lves as an interp lay am ong trajecto ries and the ir transitions, which are

inte rdependen t on one ano ther. A ga in , th is in terdependence is reflec ted in

au tobiograph ica l m em ory as the in terrela tionsh ip am ong them atically d iffe ren t

ex tended even ts.

Event history calendars, then , w ere first deve loped as a ttem pts to assist

responden ts in reca lling their dynam ic pasts. Consider the life histo ry calendar

o f Freedm an e t al. (1988). A s depic ted in F ig . 3 , th is ca lendar p resen ted five

them es that exam ined p laces of residence, persons resid ing w ith and their

rela tionships, schoo ling, work , and m ilitary serv ice . E ach them e w as represen ted

by its own relevan t tim elines tha t covered a 10-year period . R esponden ts w ere

asked to report the m onth and year o f all even ts including certa in spec ific even ts

(e.g . births o f o ffspring) and the beg inning and endpo ints of ex tended even ts

(e.g . m arriages, cohabita tions). Superfic ially , the life h isto ry ca lendar m irro rs

the k inds of in form ation tha t w ill be available in the rem em bering of lifetim e

periods, as it represen ts those them es tha t are like ly to be shared by m em bers of

a cultu re . M ore im portan tly , the life histo ry ca lendar encourages an extensive

use of the au tob iograph ica l m em ory ne tw ork and the m ultip le pa ths assoc ia ted

w ith top-down, sequen tia l, and para lle l re trieval strateg ies.

Top-dow n R etrieva l. O rgan ised by them es, the life h isto ry ca lendar

encourages top-down retrieval. For exam ple , the first tim eline, dealing w ith

p laces of residence , encourages respondents to report in wha t p laces (e .g . c ities,

tow ns) they have lived (and w hen), a task that fo r m ost respondents is done qu ite

easily , perhaps because the focus is on retriev ing lifetim e periods. A nother

tim eline dea ling w ith m arita l even ts and cohabita tion asks fo r reporting of the

persons w ith w hich one is involved . A nother exam ple tha t requ ired m ore

deta iled in fo rm ation invo lved the reporting of w ork h is to ries, in w hich

responden ts w ere asked to report on the num ber of w eekly hours w orked . The

encouragem ent o f top-dow n retrieval w ith the w ork h istories would have been

enhanced if, in add ition to w eek ly hours, responden ts had been asked exp lic itly

to report the ir lifetim e periods regard ing the p laces in w hich they w ere w ork ing.

The life tim e periods cou ld se rve as a retrieval cue fo r rem em bering w eek ly w ork

hours.

Sequenc ing and Para lle l R e trieva l. In com parison to trad itiona l standar-

d ised survey techn iques, the life h isto ry ca lendar exce ls in encourag ing re trieva l

through cues ob tained by nav iga ting through sequen tial pa thw ays w ith in them es

and para lle l pathw ays across them es. A s adm inistered by Freedm an e t a l. (1988),

the life h isto ry ca lendar em phasised sequen tia l retrieval, as in terv iew ers w ere

instructed to e lic it the chronolog ica l re trieva l o f events w ith in the first p resented

them e (p laces of residence), and then m ove on to other them es in the order o f

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FIG. 3. T h e tru n ca ted an d re d uced re pro d uc tion o f the lif e h isto ry c a len d ar u sed in th e S tud y o f

A m eri c an F am ilies and d iscu ssed b y F ree d m an et a l. (19 8 8). C o py rig h t Ó 1 98 8 b y the A m eri c an

So cio log ica l A ssoc ia t ion . R ep rin ted w ith p e rm iss io n .

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appearance on the calendar. C hecks were m ade to ensure that no gaps occurred

in the reporting of even ts. A s fo r para llel re trieval, responden ts m ay have

spon taneous ly coord ina ted responses from those tim elines that had already been

answ ered to those responses g iven in the la ter stages of the in terv iew . In face-to -

face inte rv iew ing , the visual presenta tion of each them e a long the sam e tim e

dim ensions facilita ted exam in ing para lle l tracks of even ts. M em ory researchers

(B arsalou , 1988 ; N eisser, 1988) have no ted tha t spa tia l pe rcep tions and

m etaphors a re used to represent tim e (e.g . ``those days are beh ind m e’ ’ ) and

the ca lendar’ s spa tia l rep resen ta tion of tim e prov ided a clear m eans to exam ine

those even ts tha t w ere reported to have occurred earlie r, at the sam e tim e , and

la ter than o ther even ts. T hus, for exam ple , responden ts w ho went to w ork part-

tim e follow ing the b irth of a ch ild cou ld see w hether they had appropria te ly

coord ina ted th ese even ts in th e ir rep orts . A dd ition a lly , in te rv iew ers, in

exam in ing reports for inconsistencies, cou ld query responden ts abou t the

accuracy of across-them e reports tha t appeared ou t o f the ordinary . For exam ple,

a responden t w ho reported bo th work ing and go ing to schoo l fu ll-tim e at the

sam e tim e cou ld be asked to clarify the accuracy of these responses.

B arsalou ’ s (1988) notion regard ing the log ic o f goa l a tta inm en t captu res

the in terrela tionsh ip of ex tended events both w ith in and across them es due to

the log ica l associa tion of one ex tended event (e.g . b irth and infancy of `X ’ )

w ith o ther ex tended even ts tha t a re e ither con tem poraneous (e .g . w orking

part-tim e at `Y ’ ) or tha t occur la ter (e .g . `X ’ a ttends `Y ’ e lem en tary schoo l).

Thus, the log ic of goal a tta inm ent, availab le in bo th sequen tia l and para lle l

re trieva l, prov ides in form ation regard ing the rela tive tem pora l ordering of

events. Reconstructive m ode ls of even t dating are based on the no tion tha t the

con ten ts o f rem em bered experiences con tain c lues regard ing when they had

occurred (Friedm an , 1993 ; T hom pson , Skowronsk i, L arsen , & Betz, 1996).

These reconstruc tive m odels are supported by ev idence that g rea ter p rec ision

in da ting past even ts occurs fo r m em ories in w hich there ex ists a g rea ter

degree of con tent o r m em orab ility (Bartle tt & Snelus, 1980 ; Brow n et al.,

1985 ; Thom pson e t al., 1988). T he tem pora l sequenc ing of events associa ted

by the log ic of goal attainm ent can also serve as info rm ation tha t w ill

fac ilitate the attainm ent o f a m ore prec ise reconstruc tion of when even ts had

happened. A dditionally , the m ultip le cues genera ted in even t h isto ry ca lendars

can prom ote the rem em bering of otherw ise fo rgotten events tha t w ill a ffec t

the accuracy and com ple teness in repor ting w hat even ts had happened

(A nderson & Pichert, 1978; F isher & Q uig ley , 1992). F inally , the reporting of

ho w of ten ev en ts ha d occ u rred t ra nsp ires ind irec tly from resp on de n ts

rem em bering what had happened across the reca ll pe riod dem arca ted by the

tim elines, and in w hich the num ber of even ts per un it tim e can be estab lished

by th e rese arch e r a fte r th e d a ta a re c o l lec te d . G a in in g ``h ow -of ten ’ ’

info rm ation th rough the even t h istory ca lendar con trasts w ith trad itiona l

survey questions, w hich d irectly ask for reports of the num ber of even ts

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w ith in a g iven re ference period , and w hich often prov ide a dearth of cues to

help responden ts rem em ber the occurrence of these even ts.

R esponse qua lity . O f course , a rgum ents concern ing the efficacy of even t

h isto ry ca lendars are vacuous un less the re is ev idence tha t the ir use leads to

accura te repor ting of past events. F reedm an et a l. (1988) w ere ab le to com pare

the retrospec tive reports o f school a ttendance and w eek ly w ork hours in the life

h isto ry calendar aga inst a concurrent report ga thered w ith standard inte rview ing

tha t had taken p lace five years ea rlie r. In exam ining the sam e m onth of the prio r

concurren t report, 87% of responden ts gave iden tical answ ers to both inte rv iew s

regard ing fu ll-tim e , part-tim e , or no schoo l a ttendance . R esponden ts retro -

spec tive ly reported them se lves as being sligh tly busier in their em ploym ent

status in com parison to the concurren t report. Iden tica l answ ers regarding

w ork ing fu ll-tim e , part-tim e, o r not w ork ing w ere prov ided by 72% of

responden ts, w hich im proved to 83% w hen collapsing full- and part-tim e w ork.

In ano ther app lica tion of a life h istory calendar, C asp i e t al. (1996) found at least

90% agreem ent betw een retrospec tive reports o f ac tiv itie s fo r a g iven m onth on

the life h istory ca lendar and concurren t reports ob ta ined three years ea rlier w ith

liv ing arrangem ents, cohab ita tion , schoo ling , em ploym ent, and job tra in ing.

The h igh levels o f agreem ent to the m onth in bo th of these exam ples of a life

h isto ry calendar gain additiona l im pac t w hen one considers that the responden ts

in both stud ies were in early adulthood when be ing surveyed . Spec ifically,

F reedm an et al.’ s (1988) five-year re trospec tive report involved 23-year-o ld

responden ts reporting on even ts tha t had occurred w hile they w ere 18 years o ld;

C asp i et a l.’ s (1996) responden ts w ere 21 years o ld w hen they prov ided

retrospec tive reports o f even ts tha t happened w hen they w ere 18 years o ld.

Y oung adu lthood is m arked by a num ber of transitions in life even ts, and leve ls

o f agreem ent a re likely to have been com prom ised by this flu idity . H ow ever,

the re canno t be certa in ty that the event h istory ca lendar m ethodo logy im proves

the quality o f re trospec tive reports in com parison to o ther su rvey ing techniques,

as no such direct com parisons have been m ade. N everthe less, in com paring

ind irec tly the h igh leve ls o f agreem ent reported w ith the use of event h istory

ca lendars for re ten tion in terva ls of severa l years (C asp i e t a l., 1996; F reedm an e t

al., 1988) aga inst the lack of reporting w ith traditiona l survey questions of

even ts a t the sam e or grea ter levels o f d istinc tiveness afte r a one-year re ten tion

inte rva l (C anne ll et a l., 1965 ; Cash & M oss, 1972), the even t h isto ry calendar

m ethodo logy g ives the strong im pression tha t its use prom otes the ab ility o f

responden ts to accura tely peer fu rthe r back into their personal pasts.

Poten tial A pplications. For the m ost part, even t h isto ry ca lendars have

been used in situations in w hich responden ts w ere asked to report on m ajor life

even ts (C aspi e t a l., 1996 ; F reedm an e t al., 1988 ; Furstenberg , B rooks-G unn , &

M organ , 1987 ; K essler & W ething ton , 1991; L yke tsos e t al., 1994) such as

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residence changes, m arriages and cohabita tion, b irths and dea ths, em ploym ent

and schoo ling changes, fe lony crim es, and periods of se rious physical and

m ental illnesses. In princ iple , po ten tia lly less distinc tive events such as health

visits to physic ians, changes in day-care arrangem ents for ch ildren , and

consum er purchases can also be m easured using even t h isto ry calendars. O f

course, w ith m undane even ts, the length of tim e used to ga ther retrospec tive

reports w ill need to be ad justed to re flect wha t poten tia lly can be recoverab le,

and th is dep ends on the d egree to w hich the even ts o f in te rest lack

distinc tiveness. For m undane consum er purchases, such as visits to restau ran ts,

a reca ll pe riod of a few m onths or so m ay be reasonab le , bu t no t m uch beyond

this.

In addition to reca ll pe riods, the units o f m easurem ent need to be considered .

W ith very leng thy reca ll pe riods, such as a period of m any years w ith life h isto ry

ca lendars, using m onths as the unit of m easurem ent is reasonab le . W ith shorte r

reca ll periods, perhaps one or a few years, weeks m ay adequa te ly serve as un its;

days can serve as op tim al un its w ith even shorte r reca ll pe riods such as a m onth

or tw o . In sum m ary , the re is considerab le flexib ility in using even t h isto ry

ca lendars as the leng th of reca ll periods and unit sizes can be ad justed to m ee t

the dem ands of the kind of events tha t resea rchers a re in terested in m easuring .

A n im portan t consideration in the use of even t h istory calendars is w he ther

the re are m ultip le tim elines, each reflecting an au tob iographical them e, tha t are

appro pria te to u se and w hich w ill encou rage re triev a l o f instances o f

in terdependence am ong these them es. A s has been no ted , the structu re of

au tobiograph ica l m em ory can be considered as reflec ting m any h iera rch ica l

layers o f ex tended even ts tha t a re nested w ith in one ano ther, all adheren ts w ith in

the sam e them e (e.g . B arsa lou , 1988). In add ition , the re a re a num ber of them es,

each w ith its ow n hiera rch ical structu re , w hich also conta in poin ts o f associa tion

w ith the h iera rch ies of o ther them es . T hus, them es w ill be reflec ted in various

leve ls o f the h iera rchy , and one need no t use on ly high-order tim elines (e .g .

seek ing to exam ine lifetim e them es in long-te rm rela tionsh ips such as ``living

w ith `X ’ ’ ’ ) in o rder to benefit from them e in terdependence . Instead , a resea rcher

can restrict pene tra tion to low er-leve l events tha t can be reflected in shorte r

tim elines (e.g . `` `X ’ s infancy ’ ’ ).

A s one exam ple , consider hea lth even ts. Researchers have often been

interested in hea lth u tilisation and gain ing accura te reports o f such even ts as

hosp italisa tion and visits to physic ians’ o ffices. A lthough no t d irectly iden tified

as an autob iograph ica l them e, the status of one ’ s health certain ly can have as

m uch im pac t in som e peop le’ s lives as the ir re la tionsh ips, liv ing arrangem ents,

and work h istories. In term s of ex tended events, extended periods of illness,

in jury recuperation , and hosp ita lisa tions cou ld adhere to a hea lth status them e,

and each cou ld be reflec ted in separate tim elines. Specific even ts such as

surgeries and health v isits a lso are them atica lly re la ted autob iograph ica l events.

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A s hea lth v isits a re often assoc ia ted w ith o ther hea lth even ts such as

hosp ita lisations, in prov iding tim elines fo r bo th types of even ts responden ts

can be encouraged to coordina te when each type of event had occurred . In term s

of o ther them es, tim e off from w ork, and care of ch ild ren can be affected by the

status of one’ s hea lth . In constructing an even t h isto ry ca lendar, in terest in

gain ing accura te in form ation on ra ther m undane even ts such as hea lth v isits w ill

ind ica te the use of recall pe riods of fairly short duration (a year or tw o).

N everthe less, the re is considerable opportunity to seek m ultip le cues from the

onse t and reso lution of a n um ber of d ifferen t extended and spec ific even ts in

reconstruc ting hea lth -rela ted events using an even t h isto ry ca lendar m ethod-

o logy .

Enhancements to Event History Calendars

There is no doub t that the efficacy of even t h isto ry ca lendars can be enhanced by

further developm ent. T w o particu la r m ethods show the grea test po ten tia l, using

landm arks to a id the da ting of past even ts, and encourag ing para lle l retrieval.

B oth m ethods rely on a m ore ex tensive use of tem poral and them atic cues tha t

w ould otherw ise be used only spon taneously and erra tica lly by responden ts.

Landm arks. Particu lar landm ark even ts are so notew orthy that responden ts

are ab le to loca te these even ts e ither exactly or nearly exactly in tim e, and they

can be used as anchors to loca te w hen o ther even ts happened (L oftus &

M arburger, 1983). M eans et al. (1989) no ted the spon taneous use of landm arks

in the da ting of hea lth even ts in a p ilo t study w ith vo lun teer sub jects. The

au thors no te (1989 , p.25) that landm ark even ts such as ``ho lidays , w edd ings,

parties, job changes, and m ajor health events’ ’ w ere used to da te hea lth v isits fo r

a 12-m onth period . T here is no doub t tha t in the use of even t histo ry ca lendars,

responden ts spontaneously genera te the ir ow n landm arks. H ow ever, recall

qua lity is like ly to be enhanced if, in the adm in istration of the ca lendar,

landm arks are system atica lly in troduced . As one exam ple , in the use of a 12-

m onth even ts h isto ry ca lendar, K essler and W ething ton (1991) used ho lidays as

pre-ind icated landm arks and found h igh reliab ilities in even t reporting betw een

spouses.

Im portantly , the use of landm arks appears no t on ly to assist in even t dating,

but a lso to im prove the ab ility to rem em ber w hat happened , and how often , by

assisting in the d isentang ling of sum m arised even ts. A s abstrac tions of repea ted

even ts, sum m arised even ts a re often characte rised as be ing b lended represen ta-

tions of spec ific even ts, in w hich any distinc tive episod ic in form ation tha t can

d istingu ish on e particu la r ep isode from ano ther is not re ta ined (L in ton, 1982 ;

M eans & L oftus, 1991 ; M ean s et a l., 1989). In this m anner, sum m arised events,

although im portan t in that the ir recall p rom otes an understand ing of the

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consistencies tha t p resent them se lves in our w orld , a re seen as being the bane of

survey researchers. For exam ple , M eans e t al. (1989 ; M eans & L oftus, 1991)

no ted that recurrent health v isits fo r the sam e hea lth problem , w hich are like ly to

be represen ted as sum m arised even ts, w ere recalled less w ell than non-recurren t

hea lth v isits. H ow ever, a study cond ition tha t inc luded assisting responden ts to

genera te persona lly m ean ingfu l landm arks a long a 12-m onth ca lendar led to an

increased ab ility am ong responden ts to rem em ber d istinc tive ep isod ic info rm a-

tion w ith recurrent v isits, im prov ing the accuracy of response .

In assisting responden ts to use landm arks, researchers shou ld no te tha t

landm arks can be cyc lic o r linear in natu re (T hom pson e t al., 1996). Cyc lic

landm arks are those tha t repea t a fte r certain in terva ls o f tim e, such as a year.

Annua l ce leb ra tions such as ho lidays, b ir thdays, and ann iversa ries a re exam ples

of cyclic landm arks whose da tes w ill o ften be know n. L inear landm arks, on the

other hand , a re one-tim e occurrences. Persons m ay rem em ber such no tew orthy

da tes as w hen they le ft for a European vaca tion , o r da tes in which residence

m oves w ere m ade . F irs t experiences can a lso prov ide linear landm arks, such as

the da te that one ente red a new job, the tim e tha t one first d rove a car alone, o r

the occurrence of na tural d isaste rs (P illem er e t al., 1988 ; R obinson, 1992). B irth ,

deaths , and m arr iages a re linear landm arks, a lthough the ir la ter annua l

rem em brances a re cyc lic landm arks. F inally , resea rchers m ay a lso w an t to

rem ind responden ts abou t seasonal changes tha t m ay be associa ted w ith their life

rou tines, such as academ ic ca lendars (autum n sem este r, sp ring sem ester,

sum m er) tha t p rov ide in form ation on d istinc tive periods of activ ity (Rob inson ,

1986).

W hether one encourages the use of cyclic landm arks m ay depend on the

leng th of reca ll. C yclic land m arks are like ly to lose the ir distinc tiveness as recall

pe riods include m ore cyc les. Sca le e ffec ts in au tob iograph ica l reca ll ind icate tha t

people w ill at tim es be be tte r ab le to locate an even t on sm alle r tim e sca les (e .g .

m onth of occurrence) than on larger tim e scales (e.g . year o f occurrence ; see

Friedm an, 1993). Thus, a lthough a cyclic landm ark such as a ho liday m ay help

responden ts loca te in w hich m onth an even t occurred , confusion m ay arise as to

which year, as the cyclic landm ark does no t prov ide any d istinc tive info rm ation

concern ing the year. T hus, it m ay be best to focus on linear landm arks fo r longer

reca ll pe riods.

P ara lle l R etrieva l. The effectiveness of landm arks large ly depends on the ir

effectiveness in con ju ring up associa ted info rm ation tha t resides in other them es

or dom ains of one ’ s au tob iog raphical experience. For exam ple , one m ay be able

to reconstruc t that no tifica tion of a life -threaten ing d isease cam e shortly befo re

the celebra tion of one ’ s ch ild ’ s b irthday because the b irthday ce lebration had

been som ew hat ta inted by the new s. S im ilar ly , the rem em brances of even ts in

one particu lar them e m ay conju re up rem em brances in o ther them es, bo th in

term s of w hat events happened and w hen . A lthough respondents a re like ly to

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engage in para lle l retrieval spon taneously, the quality o f report m ay be even

m ore enhanced by struc turing the in terv iew ing to encourage the use of para lle l

retrieval.

S tructu ring the occurrence of para lle l retrieva l m ay be accom plished e ithe r

follow ing or during the com pletion of the calendar. E ncourag ing para lle l

retrieval can be done by engag ing the respon den t in a calendar rev iew in w hich

the occurrence and tim ing of even ts in the various them es can be cross-checked

aga inst each o ther, and m odifica tions to the calendar en tries can accom pany any

add itions or changes tha t the responden t m ay suggest (K essle r & W eth ing ton,

1991). Para llel retrieva l can a lso be encouraged by direc tly focusing the

responden ts’ a ttention on the them es answ ered first in the calendar while they

are work ing on those them es presen ted la ter in the in terv iew (Fricke , Syed , &

Sm ith, 1986). To be m ost e ffec tive in the use of th is strategy (and also to

encourage spon taneous para lle l re trieval), the them es presented first m ust be

ones tha t a re like ly to be related to subsequen t them es. F reedm an e t al. (1988)

had the ir first tim eline devo ted to changes in residence . N ot on ly is th is tim eline

one that is relatively easy fo r responden ts to answ er, and one that w ill assist in

m otiva ting the respondent to provide responses for o ther tim elines, bu t p laces of

residence is a lso in terre lated w ith o ther them es such as the relationships that one

has had and the w ork arrangem ents that ex ist ac ross the reca ll period .

A s a final thought, g iven that au tob iograph ica l knowledge is dependen t on

concep tions of the se lf, researchers m ay be ab le to cap ita lise on these self-

concep tions w hile encourag ing parallel re trieval. P rov iding responden ts w ith

labels o f the ro les tha t they had assum ed during differen t periods of the ir lives

m ay serve as cues regard ing the various in terrela tionsh ips am ong them es. A s

exam ples, responden ts m ay be rem inded of w ork-rela ted events tha t had

occurred shortly a fter becom ing a paren t, or checks can be m ade tha t their

becom ing a superv iso r a t w ork was con tem poraneous w ith becom ing a spouse.

CONCLUSION

R ecen t w ork on the structu re of autob iograph ica l m em ory suggests that the

recall o f retrospec tive reports in surveys can be im proved by using the m ultip le

cues and pathw ays tha t a re available w ith in the au tobiographica l m em ory

netw ork. T rad itiona l su rvey questions do no t capitalise on these availab le cues,

as they tend to segm ent the various them es of responden ts’ pasts. E ven t h istory

ca len dars , on the o ther h and , en courage re spo nden ts to app rec ia te the

inte rre latedness of various them es w hich serve to cue m em ories both w ithin

and across these them es. G iven the po ten tial o f even t h isto ry ca lendars fo r

im prov ing the accuracy and com pleteness of su rvey report, survey researchers

shou ld seriously consider the ir use .

D irect com parisons in the qua lity o f responden t reports be tw een trad itiona l

su rvey questions and even t h isto ry ca lendars a re lack ing. Ind irect com -

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parisons, how ever, do indicate tha t im provem ents a re like ly w ith even t h isto ry

ca lendars. In add ition , the benefits o f calendars ough t to be m axim ised w ith

various enhancem ents based on w hat is know n to facilita te people ’ s ab ilities

to accura te ly rem em ber the ir pasts. H ow ever, add itional resea rch needs to be

conduc ted tha t d irec tly com pares the qua lity o f responses ga ined w ith

traditiona l survey questions and even t history calendars, and w hich also

com pares the costs o f each m ethodo logy , considering such aspec ts as the

tra in ing of in terv iew ers, inte rv iew ing tim e, and the cod ing and ana lyses of

da ta .

A ssessing costs is im portant because reduc tion of su rvey erro rs is a lm ost

alw ays assoc ia ted w ith som e increase in costs (G roves, 1989). T he u ltim ate

success of event h istory calendars w ill be judged by w hether im provem ents in

re trospec tive reports are show n to be cost-effective in survey adm in istration. For

exam ple, exp lorato ry cogn itive w ork has show n that re trospective reports o f

m undane die tary events can be dram atica lly im proved by using techn iques tha t

encourage grea ter access to cues than is typ ica l in su rvey questions, bu t a t

considerable cost in in terv iew ing tim e (F isher & Q uigley , 1992). O n the o ther

hand, any im provem ents in accuracy in the use of even t h isto ry ca lendars w ill

tend to offse t such cost inc reases, as va lid estim ates o f popu lation charac teristic s

can be ob ta ined w ith few er responden ts than those needed with trad itiona l

survey questions. In sum m ary , the po tential degree of im provem ent in the

qua lity of su rvey report appears w ell situa ted to ensure cost-con ta inm ent,

pa rticu larly w hen the survey top ics seek the reporting of those past events tha t

have affec ted peop le’ s lives in severa l d iffe ren t w ays.

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B ro w n, N .R ., R ips , L .J ., & Shev e ll , S .K . (1 9 85 ). T h e sub jec t ive da tes of n a tu ra l ev en ts in ve ry -lo n g-

te rm m em o ry . C o gn it iv e P sych o log y , 17 , 1 3 9±17 7 .

B ro w n, N .R ., Sh eve ll , S .K ., & R ip s, L .J . (19 86 ). Pu b l ic m em o rie s and th ei r pe rson a l con tex t. In

D .C . R ub in (E d .) , A u to b iog ra ph ica l m em o ry (p p .1 37 ±15 8 ). N ew Y o rk : C am bridg e U nive rs ity

P re ss .

B u rto n , S ., & B la ir, E . (1 99 1 ). T ask co n dit io ns , re spo nse fo rm u la tion p ro ce sse s , a n d re spo nse

acc u ra cy fo r beh av iora l freq uen cy q ue s tion s in su rvey s . P u bl ic O pin io n Q u a rte rly , 5 5 , 50 ±79 .

C ann e ll , C .F ., F ish e r, G ., & B akk e r, T . (1 96 5 ). R ep o rtin g o f h osp ita liz ation in th e H eal th In ter v iew

Su rvey . V ita l an d H eal th S ta t is tics (P H S P ub lic at ion N o . 10 00 , S e rie s 2 , N o . 6). W ash in g to n ,

D C : U S G ov e rn m en t P r in t in g O ffic e .

C a sh , W .S ., & M o ss, A .J . (19 72 ). O pt im um re ca ll p er iod fo r re p ort in g p e rson s in jur ed in m o to r

veh ic le a cc iden ts . V ita l a n d H eal th S ta tis tic s (D H E W Pu b lic a tion N o . H SM 7 2±10 5 0 , S er ie s 2 ,

N o . 5 0 ). W ash ing to n , D C : U S G o ve rn m en t P rin t in g O ffic e .

C a sp i , A ., M off i tt, T .E ., T ho rn to n , A ., F re ed m an , D ., A m e l l, J.W ., H a rrin g to n , H ., Sm e ijer s, J ., &

S ilva , P .A . (1 9 96 ). T he li fe h isto ry c al end a r: A re se a rc h an d c lin ic a l a sse ssm en t m e tho d fo r

co l le c tin g re t ro sp ec tive even t-h is to ry d a ta . In te rn a tio na l Jo u rn a l o f M e th o ds in P sych ia tr ic

R e sea rch , 6 , 10 1±1 14 .

C o nw ay , M .A . (1 9 92 ). A s tru c tu ra l m o de l of au tob io gr ap h ica l m em ory . In M .A . C o nw ay , D .C .

R ub in , H . S p inn le r, & W .A . W agen aar (E ds .) , T heo re tic a l pe rsp ec t iv e s o n a u tob io g ra p h ica l

m em o ry (p p .1 67 ±19 3 ). D ordre ch t, N e th e rlan d s: K lu w e r.

C o nw ay , M .A . (1 99 6 ). A u to b iog rap h ic a l k no w led ge an d au to b iog ra ph ical m em o rie s . In D .C . R u bin

(E d .), R em em b er in g o u r p a st : S tu d ie s in a u to b io gra ph ica l m em ory (pp .6 7 ±9 3). N ew Y ork :

C am bridg e U n iv e rs ity P re ss .

C o nw ay , M .A ., & B ek er ian , D .A . (19 8 7). O rgan iza tio n in au to b iog ra ph ical m em o ry . M em o ry &

C og n ition , 15 , 1 19 ±13 2 .

C o nw ay , M .A ., & R ub in , D .C . (19 9 3). T h e s tru ctu re o f au tob io gra ph ica l m em o ry . In A .E . C ol lin s ,

S .E . G a th erco le , M .A . C on w ay , & P .E .M . M o rris (E d s .) , Th eor ie s o f m em o ry (p p .10 3±1 37 ).

H ov e , U K : L aw re nce E rlbau m A sso ci a te s L td .

E lde r, G .H . J r. (19 85 ). P e rspec tive s o n the life co urse . In G .H . E lde r J r. (E d .) , L i fe co u rse dyn am ics

(pp .2 3±4 9). It ha c a , N Y : C o rne l l U nive rs ity P re ss .

F ish e r, R .P ., & Q uig ley , K .L . (1 99 2) . A p ply ing co gn it iv e th eory in pu b l ic hea lth in ve s t iga t io ns:

E n han c ing fo o d re c al l w i th the co g ni tiv e in te rv iew . In J.M . T an ur (E d .) , Q u es t ion s a bo u t

qu e s tio ns (p p .15 4±16 9). N ew Y o rk : R usse l S ag e .

F re ed m an , D ., T h orn to n , A ., C am b urn , D ., A lw in , D ., & Y o un g -D eM arc o , L . (19 8 8). T h e l ife

h isto ry c a len da r: A te chn iq ue fo r co l le c tin g re tro sp ec tiv e da ta . In C .C . C lo gg (E d .) , So c io lo g ica l

m etho d olog y (V o l. 1 8 , pp .3 7±68 ). S an F ra n c isco : Jo ssey -B a ss.

F ri ck e , T .E ., S yed , S .H ., & S m ith , P .C . (1 98 6). R u ra l P un jab i so ci a l o rg an iza tion and m a rr iage

tim ing s tra teg ie s in Pak is tan . D em og rap hy , 2 3 , 48 9±5 08 .

F ri ed m an , W .J . (19 9 3). M em o ry fo r th e t im e o f pa s t ev en ts . P sych o log ica l B u llet in , 11 3 , 44 ±6 6 .

Fu rs tenb er g , F .F . J r. , B ro ok s-G u nn , J ., & M o rg an , S .P . (1 98 7). A d o le sc en t m othe rs in la te r li fe .

N ew Y o rk : C am b rid g e U n iv e rsi ty P ress .

G rov e s , R .M . (1 98 9 ). S u rvey e rro rs a nd surv e y cos ts . N ew Y ork : W iley .

H ut ten loch e r, J ., H ed g es , L ., & B ra db u rn , N .M . (1 9 90 ). R epo rts o f e lap sed tim e : B o un d in g and

rou n ding proce sse s in e st im a tion . Jo urn a l o f E xpe r im enta l P sy ch o lo g y: Lea rn in g , M em o ry , a nd

C og n ition , 16 , 1 96 ±21 3 .

Job e , J .B ., T o ura n geau , R ., & Sm ith , A .F . (1 99 3 ). C o n trib u tion s of su rv ey re sea rc h to an

un de rs tan d in g of m em o ry . A pp lied C o gn it iv e P syc h o log y , 7 , 56 7 ±5 84 .

K e ss ler , R .C ., & W e th in g to n , E . (1 9 91 ). T he re lia b il ity o f l ife ev en t re p o rts in a co m m u n ity su rvey .

P sycho lo g ica l M edicine , 2 1 , 72 3±7 38 .

L in ton , M . (1 98 2 ). T ra nsfo rm a tion s of m em o ry in ev e ryd ay l ife . In U . N e isse r (E d .) , M em ory

ob se rved : R em em ber in g in n a tura l con tex ts (pp .7 7±9 1). S an F ra nc isco : F re em an .

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L in to n , M . (1 9 86 ). W ays o f se a rc h ing an d th e con ten ts o f m em ory . In D .C . R ub in (E d .) ,

A utob io g ra p h ica l m em ory (pp .5 0±6 7). N ew Y o rk : C am b rid ge U nive rsi ty P re ss .

L o ftu s, E .F ., & M arbu rg er , W . (1 98 3) . S inc e th e e ru p t io n of M t. S t . H e lens , h a s any on e b ea ten y ou

u p ? Im p rov in g the acc u ra cy of re t ro sp ec tiv e re po rts w ith lan dm a rk even ts . M em ory & C og n ition ,

1 1 , 1 14 ±1 2 0 .

L y ke tso s , C .G ., N e s tad t, G ., C w i, J. , H e i th off , K ., & E a ton , W .W . (1 9 94 ). T he life cha rt in te rv iew :

A stan da rd ized m e tho d to de sc rib e the cou rse o f p sych op a tho lo g y . In te rna tiona l Jou rna l o f

M e th o ds in P sych ia tric R e search , 4 , 1 43 ±15 5 .

M a rk us , H ., & N u riu s , P . (1 98 6 ). P oss ib le se lve s . A m erica n P sych o log ist , 4 1 , 95 4±9 69 .

M a th io w e tz , N . (1 98 6) . T he p ro b lem of o m issions and te le scop in g e rro r: N ew eviden ce from a

s tud y o f u n em p lo y m ent . P ro ce ed in gs o f th e S ec tion o n S urvey R e search M e tho ds . W ash in g ton ,

D C : A m eric an S tat is tica l A sso ci a tion .

M eans , B ., & L o ftu s , E .F . ( 19 91 ). W h en pe rso na l h is to ry re pea ts itse lf: D eco m po s in g m em o ries fo r

r ec u rrin g ev en ts . A p pl ied C o g ni tiv e P sych o lo gy , 5 , 29 7 ±3 1 8 .

M eans , B ., N ig am , A ., Z a rro w , M ., L o ftu s , E .F . & D o na ldso n , M .W . (1 98 9 ). A u to b iog rap h ic al

m em o ry fo r h ea lth -re la ted even ts . V ita l a nd H ea lth S ta tis t ic s (D H H S P ub lic a t ion N o . P H S 89 -

1 0 77 , S e ri es 6 , N o . 2). W ash ing to n D C : U S G o v e rnm en t P rin ting O f fic e .

M en on , G . (1 9 93 ). T h e e ffe c ts o f a c c e ssib i lilty o f in fo rm a tion in m em o ry on ju dg m ents o f

b eh av io ra l freq uen ci e s. Jo u rn a l o f C on sum er R e sea rch , 20 , 4 31 ±44 0 .

M en on , G ., R agh ub ir , P ., & Schw a rz , N . (19 9 5). B ehav iora l freq u en cy ju d gm en ts: A n acce ss ib ili ty ±

d iag n os tici ty fram ew o rk . Jo urn a l o f C on sum er R e search , 22 , 2 12 ±2 2 8 .

N ei sse r, U . (1 98 1 ). Jo hn D ea n ’ s m em o ry : A ca se s tu dy . C o gn it ion , 9 , 1 ±2 2 .

N e isse r , U . (1 9 8 6 ). N e s te d s t r u c tu r e in a u to b io g ra p h ic a l m em o ry . I n D .C . R u b in (E d .) ,

A utob io g ra p h ica l m em ory (pp .7 1±8 1). N ew Y o rk : C am b rid ge U nive rsi ty P re ss .

N ei sse r, U . (1 9 88 ). W ha t is o rd ina ry m em o ry th e m em ory of? In U . N ei sse r & E . W in og ra d (E ds .) ,

R em em ber in g reco ns ide red: E co log ica l a n d trad it ion a l a pp roa ch es to th e s tu dy o f m em ory

( pp .3 56 ±3 7 3). N ew Y ork : C am b rid ge U nive rs ity P re ss .

P il lem e r, D .B ., G o ld sm ith , L .R ., P an te r, A .T ., & W h ite , S .H . (1 98 8 ). V e ry lo ng -te rm m em o rie s o f

the firs t ye a r in co l leg e. Jou rna l o f E xp e rim en ta l P syc h o log y: Lea rn ing , M em ory , an d C og n ition ,

1 4 , 7 09 ±7 1 5 .

R ob in son , J .A . (19 86 ). T em po ra l re fe re nce sys tem s an d au to b iog rap h ica l m em o ry . In D .C . R ub in

(E d .), A utob io grap h ica l m em o ry (p p .15 9±1 88 ). N ew Y o rk : C am bridg e U n iv e rsi ty P re ss .

R ob in son , J .A . (1 99 2 ). F irs t ex p e rience m em o rie s : C o n tex ts and fu n ct io ns in pe rso na l h isto ri e s. In

M .A . C o nw ay , D .C . R u bin , H . S p inn le r, & W .A . W agen aa r (E ds .) , T heo ret ica l pe rspec tiv es on

a u to b iog rap h ica l m em ory (pp .2 2 3±239 ). D o rd re ch t, N e th e rlan ds : K lu w er .

R osch , E . (1 9 78 ). P rin c ip le s o f c a teg ori z at io n . In E . R o sch & B .B . L loy d (E d s .) , C og n ition a nd

ca teg or iza tion (p p .2 5±49 ). H il lsda le , N J : L aw ren ce E rlb aum A sso c ia te s Inc .

R ub in , D .C ., & B ad de ley , A .D . (1 98 9 ). T el e sco p in g is n o t t im e co m pre ss ion : A m od e l o f the da ting

o f au to b iog ra ph ical even ts . M em o ry & C og ni tio n , 17 , 6 53 ±6 6 1 .

Scho o le r, J.W ., & H e rrm an n , D .J . (19 92 ). T h e re is m o re to ep iso d ic m em o ry th an ju s t ep iso d es . In

M .A . C o nw ay , D .C . R u bin , H . S p inn le r, & W .A . W agen aa r (E ds .) , T heo ret ica l pe rspec tiv es on

a u to b iog rap h ica l m em ory (pp .2 4 1±261 ). D o rd re ch t, N e th e rlan ds : K lu w er .

S ch w a rz , N ., & S u d m an , S . (E d s .) (1 9 9 4 ). A u to b iog ra p h ica l m e m o ry a n d th e v a lid i ty o f

re tro spec tiv e repo r ts . N ew Y o rk : Sp rin ge r-V e rlag .

Su dm an , S ., & B ra d bu rn , N .M . (1 98 2 ). A sk ing qu e s tio ns: A pra c tic a l g u ide to q ue s tion na ire de s ig n .

S an F ran c isco : Jossey-B a ss.

T h om p son , C .P ., Sk ow ro nsk i, J.J ., L a rs en , S .F ., & B e tz , A .L . (19 9 6). A u to b iog rap h ica l m em ory :

R em em ber in g w h a t an d rem em ber in g w h en . M ah w ah, N J: L aw re nce E rlbau m A sso c iates In c .

T h om p son , C .P ., Sk ow ro n ski , J .J ., & L ee , D .J . (1 98 8) . T el e sco p in g in d a tin g n a tu ra lly o ccurr ing

ev en ts . M em o ry & C o g nit io n , 1 6 , 46 1 ±4 68 .

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