In this study we examined whether the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory changes when different types of cue words are used to elicit the memories, and how the type of cue word affects the phenomenal characteristics of the memories. A total of 76 participants, ranging in age from 21 to 69 years, were presented with 22 cue words (emotional, emotion-provoking, and neutral). They were asked to recall a personal event and to complete the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (Rubin, Schrauf, & Greenberg, 2003, 2004) for each cue word. Results showed that the phenomenological properties of autobiographical memories which were cued with emotional and emotion-provoking words were rated higher than those of memories which were cued with neutral words, and that the peak in the temporal distributions of the autobiographical memories that were cued with emotional or emotion-provoking words were located later than the peak of the distribution of the memories that were cued with neutral words.

The present study examined whether the three major functions of autobiographical memory observed in Western societies (i.e., directing-behaviour, social-bonding and self-continuity) also exist in an East Asian society. Two self-report measures were used to assess the autobiographical memory functions of Japanese men and women. Japanese young adults (N = 451, ages 17-28 years) first completed the original Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) Questionnaire. They subsequently received three TALE items that represented memory functions and attempted to recall a specific instance of memory recall for each item. Confirmatory factor analyses on the TALE showed that the three functions were replicated in the current sample. However, Japanese participants reported lower levels of all three functions than American participants in a previous study. We also explored whether there was an effect of gender in this Japanese sample. Women reported higher levels of the self-continuity and social-bonding functions than men. Finally, participants recalled more specific instances of memory recall for the TALE items that had received higher ratings on the TALE, suggesting that the findings on the first measure were supported by the second measure. Results are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory in a cross-cultural context.

A number of large-scale surveys have shown that many adults, particularly university students, believe that traumatic memories can be repressed and then recovered at a later point in time. How do ordinary people like students, most of whom may not have experiences of repression or recovery of traumatic events, come to believe in such phenomenon? Such belief may be associated with daily experiences of forgetting and remembering. We asked 111 undergraduates to rate how likely they would think a person (in daily life) would remember what she/he had completely forgotten, and to write down such experiences, if they had any. Also we asked them to rate 39 statements on memory including repression and recovery of memory, and traumatic memory. Overall, 71% of participants thought that it was likely that one would remember what she/he had completely forgotten; 70% of participants reported that they actually had such experiences. Although most of the episodes that students reported reflected normal forgetting and remembering in daily life, the number of episodes as well as the belief and experience of such forgetting and remembering were correlated with their belief measures on repression and recovery of traumatic memories. Belief and experience of daily memory phenomenon may have something to do with creation and/or maintenance of belief in repressed/recovered memory

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