David C. Rubin

Remembering our past : studies in autobiographical memory

Introduction 1. Introduction David C. Rubin Part I. Approaches: 2. What is recollective memory? William F. Brewer 3. Autobiographical knowledge and autobiographical memories Martin A. Conway 4. Autobiographical remembering: narrative constraints on objectified selves Craig R. Barclay Part II. Accuracy: 5. Time in autobiographical memory Steen F. Larsen, Charles P. Thompson and Tina Hansen 6. The pliability of autobiographical memory: misinformation and the false memory problem Robert F. Belli and Elizabeth F. Loftus 7. Autobiographical memory in court Willem A. Wagenaar Part III. Emotions: 8. Perspective, meaning, and remembering John A. Robinson 9. Emotional events and emotions in autobiographical memories Sven-Ake Christianson and Martin A. Safer 10. Depression and the specificity of autobiographical memory J. M. G. Williams Part IV. Social Functions: 11. Remembering as communication: a family recounts its past William Hirst and David Manier 12. Group narrative as the cultural context of autobiography Jerome Bruner and Carol Fleisher Feldman 13. Memories of college: the importance of specific educational episodes David B. Pillemer, Martha L. Picariello, Anneliesa Beebe Law and Jill S. Reichman Part V. Development and Disruption: 14. Remembering, recounting, and reminiscing: the development of autobiographical memory in social context Robyn Fivush, Catherine Haden and Elaine Reese 15. Intersecting meanings of reminiscence in adult development and aging Joseph M. Fitzgerald 16. Schizophrenic delusion and the construction of autobiographical memory Alan D. Baddeley, Andrew Thornton, Siew Eng Chua and Peter McKenna.

Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories

On September 12, 2001, 54 Duke students recorded their memory of first hearing about the terrorist attacks of September 11 and of a recent everyday event. They were tested again either 1, 6, or 32 weeks later. Consistency for the flashbulb and everyday memories did not differ, in both cases declining over time. However, ratings of vividness, recollection, and belief in the accuracy of memory declined only for everyday memories. Initial visceral emotion ratings correlated with later belief in accuracy, but not consistency, for flashbulb memories. Initial visceral emotion ratings predicted later posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Flashbulb memories are not special in their accuracy, as previously claimed, but only in their perceived accuracy.

Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories.

In three experiments, undergraduates rated autobiographical memories on scales derived from existing theories of memory. In multiple regression analyses, ratings of the degree to which subjects recollected (i.e., relived) their memories were predicted by visual imagery, auditory imagery, and emotions, whereas ratings of belief in the accuracy of their memories were predicted by knowledge of the setting. Recollection was predicted equally well in between- and within-subjects analyses, but belief consistently had smaller correlations and multiple regression predictions between subjects; individual differences in the cognitive scales that we measured could not account well for individual differences in belief. In contrast, measures of mood (Beck Depression Index) and dissociation (Dissociative Experience Scale) added predictive value for belief, but not for recollection. We also found that highly relived memories almost always had strong visual images and thatremember/know judgments made on autobiographical memories were more closely related to belief than to recollection.

Autobiographical memory: Autobiographical memory across the lifespan

Introduction Autobiographical memory is a topic that inherently involves a lifespan approach. The development of autobiographical memory in the individual raises issues starting with childhood amnesia and progressing to reminiscence and life review. This chapter analyzes the results of studies from several different laboratories. Together, these studies cover the adult lifespan. In all cases, the data are the dates of autobiographical memories that have been cued by words. In all cases, the dependent measure is the distribution of the memories across the individuals lifespan. The structure of the chapter is as follows. First, the cuing method used to elicit memories is described. Next, the data obtained with college students are examined in terms of a laboratory retention function. Possible extentions of this retention function to older subjects are then considered before existing studies that use subjects of various ages are reviewed. Reanalysis of the data from these studies suggests that sampling as well as retention determines the relative accessibility of autobiographical memories of older subjects. Individuals begin to reminisce when they reach middle age; they recall a disproportionate number of memories from their early lives. These findings, which are consistent over several studies, lead to a model of autobiographical memory involving three components: retention, reminiscence, and childhood amnesia.

Memory in oral traditions : the cognitive psychology of epic, ballads, and counting-out rhymes

This book applies the methods and theories of cognitive psychology to the study of oral traditions. Rubin elaborates on three structural devices that appear in oral traditions: those consisting of meaning, those using imagery, and those in which sound pattern is predominant. Next, the way in which these and other constraints fit together is examined. The processes of transmission and recall are then considered. Three genres are considered as different applications of the principles outlined in the book. For two of these - counting-out rhymes and ballads - original studies are reported. For the third - epic - new analyses of existing data are reported.

A memory-based model of posttraumatic stress disorder: evaluating basic assumptions underlying the PTSD diagnosis.

In the mnemonic model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the current memory of a negative event, not the event itself, determines symptoms. The model is an alternative to the current event-based etiology of PTSD represented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The model accounts for important and reliable findings that are often inconsistent with the current diagnostic view and that have been neglected by theoretical accounts of the disorder, including the following observations. The diagnosis needs objective information about the trauma and peritraumatic emotions but uses retrospective memory reports that can have substantial biases. Negative events and emotions that do not satisfy the current diagnostic criteria for a trauma can be followed by symptoms that would otherwise qualify for PTSD. Predisposing factors that affect the current memory have large effects on symptoms. The inability-to-recall-an-important-aspect-of-the-trauma symptom does not correlate with other symptoms. Loss or enhancement of the trauma memory affects PTSD symptoms in predictable ways. Special mechanisms that apply only to traumatic memories are not needed, increasing parsimony and the knowledge that can be applied to understanding PTSD.

Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory

Three classes of evidence demonstrate the existence oflife scripts, or culturally shared representations of the timing of major transitional life events. First, a reanalysis of earlier studies on age norms shows an increase in the number of transitional events between the ages of 15 and 30 years, and these events are associated with narrower age ranges and more positive emotion than events outside this period. Second, 1,485 Danes estimated how old hypothetical centenarians were when they had been happiest, saddest, most afraid, most in love, and had their most important and most traumatic experiences. Only the number of positive events showed an increase between the ages of 15 and 30 years. Third, undergraduates generated seven important events that were likely to occur in the life of a newborn. Pleasantness and whether events were expected to occur between the ages of 15 and 30 years predicted how frequently events were recorded. Life scripts provide an alternative explanation of the reminiscence bump. Emphasis is on culture, not individuals.

Things learned in early adulthood are remembered best.

Evidence is reviewed that for older adults the period from 10 to 30 years of age produces recall of the most autobiographical memories, the most vivid memories, and the most important memories. It is the period from which peoples’ favorite films, music, and books come and the period from which they judge the most important world events to have originated. Factual, semantic, general-knowledge, multiple-choice questions about the Academy Awards, the World Series, and current events from this period were answered more accurately by two different groups of 30 older adults tested 10 years apart. A cognitive theory based on the importance of transitions and several noncognitive theories are considered as explanations of this pervasive phenomenon.

The Toronto Word Pool: Norms for imagery, concreteness, orthographic variables, and grammatical usage for 1,080 words

Imagery and concreteness norms and percentage noun usage were obtained on the 1,080 verbal items from the Toronto Word Pool. Imagery was defined as the rated ease with which a word aroused a mental image, and concreteness was defined in relation to level of abstraction. The degree to which a word was functionally a noun was estimated in a sentence generation task. The mean and standard deviation of the imagery and concreteness ratings for each item are reported together with letter and printed frequency counts for the words and indications of sex differences in the ratings. Additional data in the norms include a grammatical function code derived from dictionary definitions, a percent noun judgment, indexes of statistical approximation to English, and an orthographic neighbor ratio. Validity estimates for the imagery and concreteness ratings are derived from comparisons with scale values drawn from the Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968) noun pool and the Toglia and Battig (1978) norms.

Brain Activity during Episodic Retrieval of Autobiographical and Laboratory Events: An fMRI Study using a Novel Photo Paradigm

Functional neuroimaging studies of episodic memory retrieval generally measure brain activity while participants remember items encountered in the laboratory (controlled laboratory condition) or events from their own life (open autobiographical condition). Differences in activation between these conditions may reflect differences in retrieval processes, memory remoteness, emotional content, retrieval success, self-referential processing, visual/spatial memory, and recollection. To clarify the nature of these differences, a functional MRI study was conducted using a novel photo paradigm, which allows greater control over the autobiographical condition, including a measure of retrieval accuracy. Undergraduate students took photos in specified campus locations (controlled autobiographical condition), viewed in the laboratory similar photos taken by other participants (controlled laboratory condition), and were then scanned while recognizing the two kinds of photos. Both conditions activated a common episodic memory network that included medial temporal and prefrontal regions. Compared with the controlled laboratory condition, the controlled autobiographical condition elicited greater activity in regions associated with self-referential processing (medial prefrontal cortex), visual/ spatial memory (visual and parahippocampal regions), and recollection (hippocampus). The photo paradigm provides a way of investigating the functional neuroanatomy of real-life episodic memory under rigorous experimental control.