Remembering the Personal Past
Seminar Week 6
Autobiographical MemoryOverview
Autobiographical Memory: Memory for a specific life experience
Autobiographical Fact General (context-free) knowledge about oneself
and one’s personal history
Autobiographical MemoryAutobiographical Retention Function
Lifespan recall of autobiographical memories reveals a consistent pattern Features:
Forgetting curve Reminiscence Bump Childhood Amnesia
Question
What is your first memory?
Hold were you in this memory?
Autobiographical Retention FunctionChildhood Amnesia
Childhood amnesia refers to a relative paucity of memories from early childhood Virtually no memories from prior to age 3 or 4
Usher and Neisser (1993) had subjects recall events that could be corroborated
Varying patterns as a function of event
Autobiographical Retention FunctionChildhood Amnesia
Possible reasons for childhood amnesia:
Brain development Declarative memory (basis for episodic memory)
slow to develop, relative to procedural
Doesn’t account for finding that episodic memories can be formed well before age 3-4
Autobiographical Retention FunctionChildhood Amnesia
Possible reasons for childhood amnesia:
Development of Language Remembering personal past depends on ability to
converse with others about it
Development of Self Remembering personal past depends on the
knowledge that one has unique set of experiences
Autobiographical Retention FunctionChildhood Amnesia
Social-Cognitive Development Nelson & Fivush emphasize the gradual
emergence of autobiographical memory
Emergence depends upon memory talk, a developing sense of time and “theory of mind”
Emergence of autobiographical memory will vary across individuals and cultures as a function of these variables.
Autobiographical Retention FunctionReminiscence Bump
Autobiographical retention function features disproportionate recall from ages 15-35. A “reminiscence bump”
Accounts of the reminiscence bump: Important and distinctive events, often-rehearsed Peak brain functioning occurs in early adulthood Identity formation occurs
Autobiographical MemoryRetrieval Factors
Encoding specificity in autobiographical memory
Cues for personal memories will be more effective to the degree that they provide overlap with encoding circumstances
Marian and Neisser (2000) investigated autobiographical memory in Russian-English bilinguals
Autobiographical MemoryMethods of Investigation
Targeted Event Recall Subjects recall particular events or life periods
Diary Technique Subjects keep track of daily events; Allows for assessment of memory accuracy
Cue-Word Technique Memories generated in response to word cues Allows for assessment of autobiographical
retention function
Autobiographical MemoryRetrieval Factors
Wagenaar (1986) and Brewer (1986) investigated “W” cues for autobiographical memory “What” – activity cues; most effective “Where” – location cues “When” – time cues “Who” – people cues
Odors tend to be effective cues for personal memories Proust phenomenon: the apparent power of odors to
elicit memories that are especially old and vivid
Question
What strategies do you use to retrieve memories from long term memory?
Autobiographical MemorySelf-Memory System
Conway and colleagues propose a self-memory system
Autobiographical memories as constructed from personal knowledge base with three levels
Lifetime Periods General Events Event-Specific Knowledge
Particular construction depends on plans and goals
Autobiographical MemoryInvoluntary Memories
Many autobiographical memories occur spontaneously, in the absence of an explicit cue
Relative to voluntary memories, involuntary memories are more likely to be:
For specific rather than general events For positive events rather than negative events
(a Pollyanna Effect) For recent events Associated with a vivid “re-living”
Autobiographical MemoryEmotion and Autobiographical Memory
Flashbulb Memory a detailed, vivid, and confidently held memory for
the circumstances surrounding when you heard some startling bit of news
They typically contain five components Location Activity Source Emotion Aftermath
Question
Do you have any flashbulb memories?
Emotion and Autobiographical MemoryFlashbulb Memory
What produces a flashbulb memory?
Special physiological mechanism? Not likely: flashbulb errors can include (serious) inaccuracies
Neisser and Harsch studied flashbulb memories for the 1986 Challenger disaster
“Phantom flashbulbs” Distortions revealed TV priority and time-slice errors.
Emotion and Autobiographical MemoryFlashbulb Memory
Vividness of flashbulb memories is most likely due to: Distinctiveness Rehearsal Personal Salience Emotion
Memories for September 11 attacks Pezdek (2004) investigated flashbulb memory in
subjects differing in proximity to the attacks
Emotion and Autobiographical MemoryFlashbulb Memory
Pezdek (2004) compared New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers on two types of memory
Event memory – Aspects of the actual event Autobiographical memory – How a person learned
about the event
Found that stress enhanced memory for aspects of event being closely monitored
New Yorkers: The event itself Non-New Yorkers: How they heard about the event
Emotion and Autobiographical Memory Mood and Autobiographical Memory Mood-Dependent Memory
Retrieval of a previously encoded event is enhanced when the mood experienced at retrieval matches the mood present at encoding
Depressed individuals are more likely to retrieve negative memories
Tendency is to recall overly general memories Obstructs problem solving?
Autobiographical Memory Functions of Autobiographical Memory
Autobiographical remembering serves a number of important functions: Communicative
Offer a greater sense of intimacy and connection Emotional
Helps us think through life problems Directive
Can serve to guide future life course
Question
How can knowledge of strategies benefit clients of different ages (e.g., children) in various settings (e.g., drug treatment)?
Wrap-up
Any last questions or
Questions that were missed?