Reminiscence and Vivid Personal Memories across Adulthood

Abstract

This study examined reminiscence functions and vivid (i.e., landmark) personal memories in nine samples ranging from the teens to the nineties. Participants (n = 198) ranging in age from 18-95 years completed the Reminiscence Functions Scale (Webster, 1997) and described a vivid personal memory which was subsequently rated for frequency of recall, emotional valence, time of occurrence, impact, and thematic content. Reminiscence results showed that older adults tend to reminiscence more for social functions while younger adults tend to reminisce more for self functions. Older adults reported vivid memories that were less intimate and less negative although adults of all ages showed the "reminiscence bump." Significant relationships were also obtained between the content of vivid memories described and the patterns of general reminiscence behaviors.

The reminiscence bump for salient personal memories: Is a cultural life script required?

“…This reminiscence bump has been found across cultures (Conway, Wang, Hanyu, & Haque, 2005;Janssen, Chessa, & Murre, 2005) and through the use of a variety of methods, including responses to word cues (Jansari & Parkin, 1996;Rubin & Schulkind, 1997), olfactory cues (Chu & Downes, 2000), and musical cues (Schulkind & Woldorf, 2005); it has been found for participants' most vivid (Fitzgerald, 1988;Robinson & Taylor, 1998;Webster & Gould, 2007) and most important (Berntsen & Rubin, 2002) autobiographical memories, as well as for life chapters (Thomsen & Berntsen, 2008) and stories that belong in a book about one's life (Fitzgerald, 1996).…”

The distribution and the functions of autobiographical memories: Why do older adults remember autobiographical memories from their youth?

“…While some studies found no age differences (e.g. Bluck and Alea 2009;Webster and Gould 2007), others reported an age-related decrease in the use of AMs for social functions (e.g. Alea et al 2014a;Harris et al 2014;Wolf and Zimprich 2014).…”

“…Bluck and Alea 2009). Although a number of cross-sectional studies have shown that the use of AMs for self-functions decreases from young adulthood onwards (Harris et al 2014;Webster and Gould 2007;Wolf and Zimprich 2014), AMs from one's youth may serve to maintain a sense of self-continuity throughout the lifespan, that is, also in older age (see the identity-formation account).…”

“…According to the before-mentioned life script account (Berntsen and Rubin 2004;Rubin and Berntsen 2003), the majority of important transitional events are expected to occur in young adulthood. Correspondingly, the use of AM for directive purposes has been found to be most frequent during young adulthood (Bluck and Alea 2009;Harris et al 2014;Webster and Gould 2007;Wolf and Zimprich 2014). At the same time, experiences from young adulthood may serve directive purposes throughout the lifespan.…”

The stories we live by : the adaptive role of reminiscence in later life

“…It was specifi cally developed for younger older adults, building on fi ndings that reminiscence plays an important role in developmental regulation throughout the life span Webster, 1998;Webster & Gould, 2007). The intervention is based on the two adaptive processes of life-review: integrative and instrumental reminiscence .…”