Retrieval characteristics of autobiographical memories: Event and date information

• Published in: Applied cognitive psychology Vol. 6; no. 5; pp. 389 - 404
• Main Author: Burt, Christopher D. B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West Sussex John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.1992; Wiley
• Subjects: Autobiographical memory; Biological and medical sciences; Characteristics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Learning. Memory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Retrieval; Human; Retention interval; Autobiographical memory; Error; Strategy; Cognition; Recall; Mnemonic retrieval; Performance; Episodic memory
• ISSN: 0888-4080; 1099-0720
• DOI: 10.1002/acp.2350060504

This study examines the recall of autobiographical event information. The nature of 434 events–what, who was involved, and where and when they occurred, was obtained by examining the diaries of eight diarists. What, where and who event information was used both as cues to prompt recall and the aspect to be recalled. When was only ever recalled. Analysis indicated what was the most efficient retrieval cue, followed by where and who. An event aspect cue uniqueness explanation is suggested for these results. Event recall decreased and absolute dating error increased with retention interval. Other results suggested the latter result was due to dating strategy accuracy differences combined with a systematic adoption of different dating strategies as retention interval increased. Systematic dating errors that varied with retention interval were found, but no evidence to suggest that degree of event knowledge affected signed dating error. However, subjects generally assigned dates within the time frame established by the study, which suggests systematic dating errors are the result of boundary effects.