Autobiographical Memory

Theoretical and Applied Perspectives

Charles P. Thompson, Douglas J. Herrmann, Darryl Bruce, J. Don Read, David G. Payne

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780805820751
• eBook ISBN: 9781317713951
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Cognitive Psychology & Cognition
• Index: Psychology

The organization of the first Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (SARMAC) conference centered around two specifically identifiable research topics -- autobiographical memory and eyewitness memory. These two areas -- long-time staples on the menu of investigators of memory in more natural settings -- differ on a variety of dimensions, perhaps most notably in their specific goals for scientific inquiry and application. For many questions about memory and cognition that are of interest to scientific psychology, there have been historical as well as rather arbitrary reasons for their assignment to the autobiographical or eyewitness memory fields.

Perhaps as a result of differing historical orientations, the first volume's seven autobiographical memory chapters focus upon the qualities or types of recall from research participants, whereas the seven chapters in the eyewitness memory volume generally focus upon the quantity (a concern for completeness) and accuracy of recall. This interest in the ultimate end-product and its application within the legal process in general encourages eyewitness memory investigators to modify their testing procedures continually in an attempt to gain even more information from participants about an event. Indeed, several of the eyewitness memory chapters reflect such attempts.

Beyond the specific contributions of each chapter to the literature on autobiographical and eyewitness memory, the editors hope that the reader will come away with some general observations:
* the autobiographical and eyewitness memory fields are thriving;
* these two fields are likely to remain center stage in the further investigation of memory in natural contexts;
* although the autobiographical and eyewitness memory chapters have been segregated in these two volumes, the separation is often more arbitrary than real and connections between the two areas abound;
* the two research traditions are entirely mindful of fundamental laboratory methods, research, and theory -- sometimes drawing their research inspirations from that quarter; and
* the two fields -- though driven largely by everyday memory concerns -- can contribute to a more basic understanding of memory at both an empirical and a theoretical level.

IOverview and General Issues

1Autobiographical Memory: Themes and Variations¹

Darryl Bruce

Saint Mary's University

J. Don Read

University of Lethbridge

DOI: 10.4324/9781315784250-3

The organization of the first SARMAC conference around only two specifically identifiable research topics – autobiographical memory and eyewitness memory – may, at first blush, seem puzzling. The two areas, longtime staples on the menu of investigators of memory in more natural settings, differ on a variety of dimensions, perhaps most notably on their specific goals for scientific inquiry and application.

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¹ As noted in the precise, some of the papers presented at the first SARMAC conference (Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Vancouver, 1985) were revised and extended for chapters in companion volumes on autobiographical memory and eyewitness memory. The two volumes are closely related, and this chapter describes how the same themes are expressed in both volumes. This chapter occurs in both volumes with slight changes in the title and text to make it appropriate for the volume in which it appears. Because it was truly coauthored, the order of authors also is reversed in the two volumes.

Yet these differences should not be exaggerated. For many questions about memory and cognition of interest to scientific psychology, there have been historical as well as rather arbitrary reasons for their assignment to the autobiographical or eyewitness memory fields. Both fields are highly active, are represented by substantial numbers of scientists, and continue to grow in size. In both areas, several separate scientific meetings dedicated to their respective interests have been held, numerous monographs published, and overlapping yet somewhat different journals established. To a significant extent, however, research in one area often serves as the basis for research in the other. Most typically, work by eyewitness memory researchers has been stimulated by investigations of a more basic and theoretical nature in autobiographical memory.

Perhaps as a result of these differing historical orientations, this volume's seven autobiographical memory chapters generally focus on the qualities or types of recall from research participants, whereas the seven chapters in the eyewitness memory volume generally focus on the quantity (a concern for completeness) and accuracy of recall. This interest in the ultimate end product and its application within the legal process in general encourages eyewitness memory investigators to modify their testing procedures continually in an attempt to gain even more information from participants about an event. Indeed, several of the eyewitness memory chapters reflect such attempts.

In addition, the types of events to be recalled by participants in the two research environments have traditionally differed: Eyewitness memory participants have usually recalled very brief, recently witnessed, public (or staged) events, whereas individuals participating in autobiographical memory research have generally recalled private, personally significant, and personally selected events from remote memory, events for which accurate or complete public records have rarely existed. It is therefore not surprising that investigators of autobiographical memory have usually concentrated more on the quality than the quantity or veridicality of such reports.

In our review, research over the last decade has changed in such a way as to reflect more commonalties than differences between the two areas: For example, eyewitness researchers, prompted perhaps by the fact that a public record exists, have explored the recall of events that are both personal and autobiographically significant to the participants. Chapter 3 in the companion volume by Parker, Bahrick, Lundy, Fivush, and Levitt on children's recall of Hurricane Andrew well reflects this orientation. Investigation by Yuille and Daylen (chap. 8, companion volume) of the recall of single or repeated instances of traumatic experiences, even though not in the public domain or documented, also shows the long-standing concerning of traditional eyewitness researchers for the remembering of events of personal importance, a matter that for methodological and ethical reasons has been difficult to study. Both of these chapters could as easily fit with the field of autobiographical memory, but because the events described are either public or their recollection has legal implications, they find themselves on the eyewitness side of the ledger.

Similarly, this volume contains contributions that, if not central to the topic of eyewitness memory, at least have considerable relevance to it. For example, Bahrick's chapter 5 deals with the problem of distortions of memory, an issue of enormous moment to those concerned about recollections made in legal and clinical situations. Likewise, the observations described by Pillemer, Desrochers, and Ebanks (chap. 9) on verb tense shifts have implications for the authenticity of experiences reported in personal narratives and should thus be of interest to those working in clinical and legal contexts. Finally, Fivush's research (chap. 6) shows the close relation between the qualitative characteristics of autobiographical memory and their relevance to matters of eyewitness testimony.

Themes and Variations

From our perusal of the chapters in the autobiographical memory and eyewitness memory volumes, it appeared that each featured one or more of the following six themes: accuracy, affect, imagery, development, methods, and theory. We emphasize that we developed these themes after the fact; other readers may discover other themes. Nevertheless, these themes permit us to provide the reader with a framework for organizing the information to come and to introduce the chapters themselves. Here, then, is an indication of how the six themes or threads crop up in the various chapters.

Accuracy and Distortions of Memory in Children and Adults

Accuracy in remembering is a prominent theme of a number of chapters. Three on autobiographical memory touch on the problem. Bahrick's (chap. 5) particular interest is the basis for distortions in the recollection of one's grades in high school. If they are not accurately recalled, errors are usually inflations of the actual grades. The contribution by Pillemer et al. (chap. 9) examines shifts from the past to the present tense that sometimes occur in the recounting of a personal narrative. Such shifts may be an indicator of accuracy; that is, they may suggest that an individual is reporting something that was actually experienced rather than known secondhand or even fabricated. In his highly original essay, Larsen (chap. 10) explores the phenomenal qualities of memories and notes that assessing memory accuracy is really a matter of comparing one's original experience (not the objective event itself) with one's later recollection. The problem, as Larsen points out, lies in what we can know of our initial experience.

Four of the chapters in the companion eyewitness memory volume examine accuracy in the recollections of both children and adults. The exploration of the subject with children reflects an interest in cognitive development as well as the interface between psychology and the law. What is recalled by a child about a personally significant (and sometimes criminal) event is often critical to the legal process. For Ceci, Crossman, Gilstrap, and Scullin (chap. 2), the question is related to developmental differences in suggestibility between younger and older children across very different types of information, including bodily touching. For Walker and Hunt (chap. 4), on the other hand, the primary question is how we can better obtain from young children more complete recall of their experiences. Walker and Hunt point to a variety of specific interview techniques that psychologists have recommended for use with children as methods for bolstering recall. However, when evidence of their use is sought within actual forensic interviews with children, their presence is very rare indeed.

Concerning adults, Yarmey (chap. 7) and Read, Lindsay, and Nicholls (chap. 6) describe recent data concerned with accuracy of person identification following brief interactions between research participants and a target individual. Yarmey's chapter focuses on a number of specific identification techniques (e.g., showups) and bases of identification (e.g., faces, voices, and bodily movements), whereas Read et al.’s chapter evaluates the controversial relation between the accuracy of a participant's identification decision and the subjective confidence expressed in that decision. The results of the latter chapter demonstrate that the association between accuracy and confidence can be very strong. They also suggest that eyewitness memory research has generally been unsuccessful at incorporating those characteristics of real-world identifications that may set the stage for the observation of a substantial link between accuracy and confidence.

Affect, Emotion, and Memory

The relation of affect and emotion to memory is complex and any attempt on our part to summarize the situation would be well beyond the scope and purpose of our introductory essay. The reader may therefore wish to turn first to chapter 5 by Bahrick, which contains a useful review of some of the relevant literature as well as some pitfalls in conducting and interpreting research in the area. Bahrick proposes a number of ideas in his discussion, a chief one being that reconstructive memory processes lead to errors of recollection that engender positive affect.

A number of chapters in this memory volume report intriguing effects concerning emotion and memory. Pillemer et al. (chap. 9) show that a narrator's shift from the past to the present tense in recounting a past experience tends typically to occur at an emotional high point in the story. In her contribution, Fivush (chap. 6) notes certain adult gender differences in autobiographical memory reports (e.g., women's are generally more emotional than men's), and asks whether they might originate in differences in the way that mothers and fathers reminisce with their children over the preschool years. One of her many findings is that both parents used substantially more emotion words in reminiscing with their daughters than with their sons. In chapter 10, Larsen describes the results of an investigation of memory for emotional experiences. A particularly intriguing outcome was that when the focus of an emotion was an internal state (e.g., being joyful), the accompanying imagery was more somatic; when the focus was an external event (e.g., a holiday breakfast), the accompanying imagery was more visual. In a more theoretical vein, Rubin (chap. 4) sees affect as one of the major components of the process of autobiographical recollection.

Some of the eyewitness memory contributions also bear on the relation of affect and memory. One possibility is that it depends critically on the valence of the affect: When events generate positive affect, the relation is positive; when they generate negative affect, the relation is reversed. That is, it has been often argued that life events accompanied by strong negative affect or emotion are recalled with much greater difficulty than events accompanied by less emotional intensity. Consistent with the latter position are reports from individuals of “recovered” memories of events they claimed to have completely forgotten for several years, even decades. Parker et al. (chap. 3, compani...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part 1: Overview and General Issues
• Part 2: Autobiographical Memory
• Author Index
• Subject Index