No abstract

Two experiments examined the estimation of event duration. In Experiment 1 subjects estimated the expected duration of five everyday activities, performed the activities, and then made retrospective estimates of the duration of the activities. Expected and retrospective estimates were positively correlated, even when actual duration was taken into account suggesting both estimates may have been constructed partly from general knowledge of activity duration. Experiment 2 examined the ability to predict activity duration within a time management framework. Results indicated that subjects' accuracy in predicting the duration of a series of events was not related to time management ability as measured by the Time Structure Questionnaire (TSQ). Subjects generally made overestimations, and this tendency may be a strategy that gives a feeling of control over time and helps avoid stress caused by an inability to complete tasks in the allocated time. No relationship was found between expected duration estimation ability and academic performance.This study examined ability to generate the expected duration of everyday activities before actually performing the activities. Subjects' expected estimates were compared with the actual duration of the activities, and with retrospective estimates made after performing the activities. The research extends our earlier work, which showed that retrospective estimates of the duration of both public (Burt, 1993;Burt and Kemp, 1991) and autobiographical (Burt, 1992) events are often reconstructed when there is a reasonably long interval between the event and recall of its duration. The existence of knowledge structures that allow for the reconstruction of event duration long after an event has been experienced suggests that duration information might be available before an experience, allowing the prediction of activity duration, and possibly influencing duration estimates made immediately after completing an activity. Experiment 1 investigated these questions. Experiment 2 examined individuals' ability to predict activity duration within a time management framework.Asking a subject to estimate the duration of an activity before performing it has

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.The primary focus of this study is an examination of the process and factors that mediate the recall of date information. Previous research suggests that event knowledge may affect both the accuracy of the date assigned to an event and the nature of dating error (i.e. whether an event is dated too recently or remotely). In order to investigate the effect of event knowledge on date responses an event aspect cueing procedure, similar to that adopted by Wagenaar (1 986), was employed. The nature of the event-what, where it occurred-where, and who was involved in the eventwho, were used both as cues to prompt recall and as the aspects to be recalled. This procedure provided a means of objectively scaling event knowledge and an opportunity to attempt to replicate some of Wagenaar's results.Wagenaar (1986) studied his own memory by recording events in a diary over a 6-year period and then attempting to recall the events on the basis of different event aspect cues (e.g. whar, where, who, and when). Although a similar procedure was used in this study (the exception being that when was only ever recalled), the method of obtaining event aspect information was different. The method used, termed the undirected-diary method, involved obtaining event aspect information from diaries kept by individuals who had engaged in the behaviour of diary-keeping (i.e. diarists). Hence recording of the diary material was not a phase of the study.Wagenaar (1986) reported that the different aspects of an event had different values as retrieval cues. What, or the nature of an event, was the most efficient cue for memory retrieval, followed by where, who, and when. Wagenaar suggested that the what, where, and who cue efficiency differences reflected event aspect

We investigated the effects of visual input at encoding and retrieval on the phenomenology of memory. In Experiment 1, participants took part in events with and without wearing blindfolds, and later were shown a video of the events. Blindfolding, as well as later viewing of the video, both tended to decrease recollection. In Experiment 2, participants were played videos, with and without the visual component, of events involving other people. Events listened to without visual input were recalled with less recollection; later adding of the visual component increased recollection. In Experiment 3, participants were provided with progressivelymore information about events that they had experienced, either in the form of photographs that they had taken of the events or narrative descriptions of those photographs. In comparison with manipulations at encoding, the addition of more visual or narrative cues at recall had similar but smaller effects on recollection.

The process by which experience is divided into events was examined. Experiment 1 involved diarists recording their experiences over a 3-month period. Diary entries were later transcribed onto cards and the diarists arranged their cards so as to define events they had experienced, and in a separate phase arranged their cards so as to describe the themes that reflected their life. Examination of event-and theme-building strategies indicated that boundaries were frequently used, and events and themes were often formed from clusters of experience combined using content association rather than temporal sequence. Experiment 2 involved photographs taken by the participants, employed the same procedures as in Experiment 1, and revealed event-and theme-building strategiessimilar to those identified in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3 the size of the stimulus set from which events and themes were constructed was manipulated; this did not influence construction strategies. Overall, the experiments show that both autobiographical events and themes frequently consist of episodes taken from more than 1 day.