Elucidating the mental processes underlying the direct retrieval of autobiographical memories

Mace, John H.; Petersen, Emma P.; Kruchten, Emilee A.

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103190

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Generative retrieval Mace et al (2021) "Generative retrieval is often described as a long, protracted retrieval process where one exerts considerable effort to retrieve a past experience" (p. 2) Involuntary memories Berntsen (2021) "Memories for personal events that come to mind spontaneously with no preceding conscious attempt at retrieval, such as a particular location triggering a memory of a past event associated with this location" (p. 1)…”

Section: Autobiographical Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Allé et al ( 2021) "Autobiographical memory is the ability to recollect personal past experiences and contributes to an individual's sense of self" (p. 86) Baddeley (1992) "Autobiographical memory refers to the recollection by subjects of their earlier lives" (p. 13) Fivush and Grysman (2022) "Autobiographical memory is a biography of self, the story of 'me' that is a dynamic evolving conglomeration of specific events, repeated and recurring experiences, extended events and life periods, organized temporally and thematically to create a coherent and consistent sense of self" (p. 3) Déjà vu Neppe (1983) "Any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present experience with an undefined past" (p. 3) Direct retrieval Mace et al (2021) "Direct retrieval is described as a relatively fast retrieval process that involves 'no effort'" (p.…”

Section: Autobiographical Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The phenomenology of autobiographical retrieval

Moulin

Carreras

Barzykowski

2022

WIRES Cognitive Science

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In this article we review the literature on the phenomenology of retrieval from the personal past, and propose a framework for understanding how epistemic feelings and metacognitive reflections guide the retrieval of representations of past events in the Self Memory System. Our focus is on an overlooked aspect of autobiographical memory, the phenomenology of the retrieval process, as opposed to the products of retrieval themselves. As we argue in the present paper, this is not some magical collection of phenomena, but centers on the feeling of familiarity derived from retrieval fluency during the process of retrieval. The relationship between retrieval fluency and retrieved content, interpreted metacognitively is what gives autobiographical retrieval its particular phenomenological “flavor.” To illustrate our point, we focus on two phenomena that only recently were considered alongside each other: the déjà vu experience and involuntary autobiographical memories. Our proposal is that the feeling of familiarity (i.e., this reminds me of something) for the personal past acts to guide deliberate, conscious memory search. We argue that the critical concept in the phenomenology of retrieval is fluency—how readily information comes to mind. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory Philosophy > Consciousness Philosophy > Knowledge and Belief

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Section: Autobiographical Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Autobiographical Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The phenomenology of autobiographical retrieval

Moulin

Carreras

Barzykowski

2022

WIRES Cognitive Science

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“…Finally, a few limitations need to be acknowledged. Firstly, although the sample size is comparable with recent studies on the same topic (Mace et al, 2021) it could be considered not sufficient to detect qualitative differences between generative and direct retrieval processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Could direct and generative retrieval be two flips of the same coin? A dual-task paradigm study

et al. 2022

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Autobiographical memories are thought to be retrieved using two possible ways: a generative one, which is effortful and follows a general-to-specific pathway, and a direct one, which is automatic and relatively effortless. These two retrieve processes are known to differ on the quantitative side (especially considering retrieval times), from a qualitative point of view, however, evidence is missing. Here, we aimed to disentangle this question by taking advantage of a dual-task paradigm in which the different tasks tax different executive functions.Participants were asked to perform an autobiographical memory task under three different conditions: no cognitive load, non-visual cognitive load and visual cognitive load. On the quantitative side, results replicated previous findings with generative processes being slower compared with direct ones. Conversely, on the qualitative side, results indicated that the retrieval times of both direct and generative retrieval processes varied similarly according to the dual-task condition, thus supporting the idea that the same memory process could underlie both retrievals.

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“…Only over the past decade have studies provided evidence that direct retrieval often occurs in the context of voluntary autobiographical remembering; specifically, studies have shown that direct retrieval is as frequent as the generative one in standard word-cueing paradigms (e.g., Barzykowski and Staugaard 2016;Harris et al 2015;Harris and Berntsen 2019;Mace et al 2017; Uzer 2016), or it is even more frequent when concrete word-cues or personally relevant cues are used (Uzer 2016;Uzer and Brown 2017;Uzer et al 2012; but see also Mace et al 2021, for a discussion on the prevalence of direct retrieval).…”

Section: New Developments: the Phenomenology Of The Retrieval Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Subjective Experience of Autobiographical Remembering: Conceptual and Methodological Advances and Challenges

Chiorri,

Vannucci

2024

J. Intell.

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The investigation of the phenomenology of autobiographical memories (i.e., how a memory is subjectively experienced and its meaning) has provided an important contribution to our understanding of autobiographical remembering. Over the last two decades, the study of phenomenology has received widespread scientific attention, and the field has undergone quite relevant conceptual and methodological changes. In the present work, we (1) review some basic and well-established research findings and methodological achievements; (2) discuss new theoretical and methodological challenges, with a special focus on the issue of the phenomenological experience of the retrieval process and its relationship with the phenomenology of the products of retrieval; and (3) propose an alternative way of conceptualizing and understanding it in the framework of experimental phenomenology.

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Elucidating the mental processes underlying the direct retrieval of autobiographical memories

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

The phenomenology of autobiographical retrieval

The phenomenology of autobiographical retrieval

Could direct and generative retrieval be two flips of the same coin? A dual-task paradigm study

The Subjective Experience of Autobiographical Remembering: Conceptual and Methodological Advances and Challenges

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