Self-confirmative functions of involuntary autobiographical memories

Abstract

This study investigated the functions of involuntary memory, which is memory of personal experience that pops into mind without a conscious attempt at retrieval. Thirteen undergraduates recorded the contents of their involuntary memories and the circumstances surrounding their occurrence, such as the participant's activity. In addition, the participants described the effect of the involuntary memory on their thought and action in that situation. Analysis of the data showed that the dominant function of involuntary memory was self-confirmation. The subsets of this function were: (a) recognition of one's existence in the past, (b) recognition of one's own psychological traits in the past, (c) discovering new traits of oneself through checking one's personal past, (d) understanding the change of one's traits, and (e) recognizing the consistency of one's traits. These results indicate that one of the main functions of involuntary autobiographical memory may be to provide a sense of self-continuity.

Relationship between frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and cognitive failure

“…These results indicated that self function is more prominent in everyday involuntary autobiographical memories. Kamiya (2007) also attempted to confirm the universality of the above results using university students; 13 participants recorded the content of their involuntary autobiographical memories and the circumstances surrounding their occurrence, such as the participant's activity. In addition, participants described the effects of involuntary autobiographical memories on their thoughts and actions in those situations.…”

“…Research on the function of voluntary autobiographical memories is steadily growing, but research on the function of involuntary autobiographical memories is in its initial stage (Mace & Atkinson, 2009), with only few studies that have empirically examined this question (Finnbogadóttir & Berntsen, 2011;Kamiya, 2003Kamiya, , 2007Mace & Atkinson, 2009;Rasmussen & Berntsen, 2011).…”

“…In the context of involuntary autobiographical memory, the others function means social function. 1 Finally, the directive function of 1 Kamiya (2003Kamiya ( , 2007 calls a social function of involuntary autobiographical memory "others function". The social function of autobiographical memory has been described as talking of one's personal memories to others.…”

“…Diary methods are typically used to study everyday involuntary memories (Berntsen, 1996;Berntsen & Jacobsen, 2008;Finnbogadóttir & Berntsen, 2011;Kamiya, 2003Kamiya, , 2007Mace, 2004;Mace, Atkinson, Moeckel, & Torres, 2011;Schlagman, Schulz, & Kvavilashvili, 2006). In these studies participants keep a diary with them throughout the course of the day, during which they have to record the contents of their involuntary autobiographical memories and immediately answer some questions upon experiencing them.…”

“…For instance, in the above diary study (Kamiya, 2007), participants recorded up to 50 involuntary memories and completed the diary study within a period of 4-24 months. Similarly, in diary studies conducted over a given period (usually several weeks), there was a wide variability in the number of memories reported (Mace et al, 2011;Schlagman, Kvavilashvili, & Schulz, 2007).…”