Differential effects of age on involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory.

Schlagman, Simone; Kliegel, Matthias; Schulz, Jens; Kvavilashvili, Lia

doi:10.1037/a0015785

Cited by 107 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…The autobiographical memory literature includes a number of cued-retrieval studies (Anderson & Conway, 1994;Berntsen & Rubin, 2002;Brown, 2005;Brown & Schopflocher, 1998a, 1998bConway, 1990;Conway & Bekerian, 1987;Fitzgerald, 1980;Fitzgerald & Shifley-Grove, 1999;Larsen & Plunkett, 1987;Robinson, 1976;Rubin, 1982Rubin, , 2000Rubin & Berntsen, 2003;Rubin & Schulkind, 1997a, 1997bSchlagman, Kliegel, Schulz, & Kvavilashvili, 2009;Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008;Wagenaar, 1986). In many of these, researchers have manipulated the nature of the cues presented to their participants and then measured the time required for participants to retrieve cue-related personal memories.…”

Section: Rt Differences In Cued Retrieval Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the prevalence of directly retrieved autobiographical memories.

Uzer¹,

Lee²,

Brown³

2012

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

101

156

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In this study, we used process measures to understand how people recall autobiographical memories in response to different word cues. In Experiment 1, participants provided verbal protocols when cued by object and emotion words. Participants also reported whether memories had come directly to mind. The self-reports and independent ratings of the verbal protocols indicated that directly recalled memories are much faster and more frequent than generated memories and are more prevalent when cued by objects than emotions. Experiment 2 replicated these results without protocols to eliminate any demand characteristics or output interference associated with the protocol method. In Experiment 3, we obtained converging results using a different method for assessing retrieval strategies by asking participants to assess the amount of information required to retrieve memories. The greater proportion of fast direct retrievals when memories are cued by objects accounts for reaction time differences between object and emotion cues, and not the commonly accepted explanation based on ease of retrieval. We argue for a dual-strategies approach that disputes generation as the canonical form of autobiographical memory retrieval and discuss the implication of these findings for the representation of personal events in autobiographical memory.Keywords: autobiographical memory, direct retrieval, generative retrieval, memory organization, memory cueing How do people recall autobiographical memories? The literature provides two answers to this question-answers that correspond to two different research approaches. Psychologists who study involuntary memories tend to focus on directly retrieved memories (Berntsen, 1996(Berntsen, , 1998Berntsen & Hall, 2004;Berntsen & Rubin, 2002;Mace, 2004Mace, , 2005Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008). Work on this topic has shown that cues provided by internal and external contexts sometimes combine to trigger an automatic and effortless retrieval of specific autobiographical-events memories. In contrast, researchers who use the Crovitz cue-word method (Crovitz & Schiffman, 1974) and its variants assume that direct retrieval is uncommon (Haque & Conway, 2001). Instead, they stress the importance of either generation or event (re)construction, and they tend to characterize memory retrieval as a deliberate, effortful, and time-consuming activity (Belli, 1998;Botzung, Denkova, Ciuciu, Scheiber, & Manning, 2008;Burgess & Shallice, 1996;Conway, 1990Conway, , 2005 Despite a widespread tendency to equate retrieval processes with retrieval intentions, it has been noted that direct retrieval can occur when participants recall personal memories in response to word cues (e.g., Barsalou, 1988;Berntsen & Rubin, 2004;Brown, 1993;Conway, 1990;Haque & Conway, 2001). Thus, we took the existence of these two retrieval types, direct and generative, 1 as the starting point for our study and designed it to assess the prevalence and impact of direct retrieval when people are required to recall autobiographical memories in respon...

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Section: Rt Differences In Cued Retrieval Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the prevalence of directly retrieved autobiographical memories.

Uzer¹,

Lee²,

Brown³

2012

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

101

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We use the paradigm developed by Schlagman and Kvavilashvili (2008) for the following reasons: First, it is a well-established method for measuring involuntary autobiographical memories in a laboratory setting (e.g., Kvavilashvili & Schlagman, 2011;Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008;Schlagman et al, 2009). Second, because the participants are asked to record their involuntary memories as they occur "in real time" during a vigilance task, it relies little on retrospection.…”

Section: The Study Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inducing involuntary and voluntary mental time travel using a laboratory paradigm

2015

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Although involuntary past and future mental time travel (MTT) has been examined outside the laboratory in diary studies, MTT has primarily been studied in the context of laboratory studies using voluntary construction tasks. In this study, we adapted and extended a paradigm previously used to elicit involuntary and voluntary memories (Schlagman & Kvavilashvili in Memory & Cognition, 36, 920-932, 2008). Our aim was -for the first time -to examine involuntary and voluntary future MTT under controlled laboratory conditions. The involuntary task involved a monotonous task that included potential cues for involuntary MTT. Temporal direction was manipulated between participants whereas retrieval mode was manipulated within participants. We replicated robust past-future differences, such as the future positivity bias. Additionally, we replicated key voluntary-involuntary differences: Involuntary future representations had similar characteristics as involuntary memories in that they were elicited faster, were more specific, and garnered more emotional impact than their voluntary counterparts. We also found that the future and past involuntary MTT led to both positive and negative mood impact, and that the valence of the impact was associated with the emotional valence of the event. This study advances scientific understanding of involuntary future representations in healthy populations and validates a laboratory paradigm that can be flexibly and systematically utilized to explore different characteristics of voluntary and involuntary MTT, which has not been possible within naturalistic paradigms.

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“…recalled memories and their retrieval times (Piolino, et al, 2006;Rubin & Schulkind, 1997;Schlagman et al, 2009) How surprised were you to hear this news? Please answer on a rating scale where 1 is "Not surprised at all" and 10 is "Extremely surprised".…”

Section: Effects Of Age On Flashbulb and Non-flashbulb Memories 29mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of age on phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 and a staged control event.

Kvavilashvili¹,

Mirani²,

Schlagman³

et al. 2010

Psychology and Aging

Self Cite

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The special status of flashbulb memories was investigated by contrasting the effects of age on the phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 over a 2-year delay period with those of a mundane staged control event, learning that one had not won a small prize. Flashbulb memories produced no significant age effects for either phenomenological characteristics or test-retest consistency, as predicted by Mather"s (2004) emotional compensation hypothesis. By contrast, the control event resulted in significant age effects for phenomenological characteristics (e.g., specificity and the amount of detail recalled), but not for test-retest consistency. Furthermore, in both age groups, memories of September 11 were significantly more vivid, detailed and consistent than control memories even though the test-retest interval was twice as long for flashbulb memories. In addition, correlations between consistency scores and ratings of rehearsal were positive for control memories, but negative for flashbulb memories. The theoretical implications of these findings for research on cognitive aging and flashbulb memories are discussed.

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Differential effects of age on involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory.

Cited by 107 publications

References 76 publications

On the prevalence of directly retrieved autobiographical memories.

On the prevalence of directly retrieved autobiographical memories.

Inducing involuntary and voluntary mental time travel using a laboratory paradigm

Effects of age on phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 and a staged control event.

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