Sami Gülgöz

Examining the life story account of the reminiscence bump: why we remember more from young adulthood.

The reminiscence bump is a robust finding demonstrated mostly with the cue-word method in Western cultures. The first aim of the study was to replicate the reminiscence bump using a life history timeline method and to extend reminiscence bump research to a Turkish sample. The second aim was to empirically examine the recently proposed life story account (Glück & Bluck, 2007) for the reminiscence bump. The sample consisted of 40 women and 32 men aged 52 to 66 years. Participants’ lives were divided into 5-year intervals and they verbally reported as many memories as possible in a standard timeframe from each interval (in random order) and provided ratings of several memory characteristics. As expected, the lifespan distribution of the resulting 6373 memories demonstrated a reminiscence bump. In support of the life story account, bump memories were found to be more novel, more important for identity development, more distinct, and more likely to involve developmental transitions than memories from other age periods. Findings are discussed in terms of the life story account, which synthesises lifespan developmental theory and life story theory.

Learning from Instructional Text: Test of an Individual-Differences Model.

An individual-differences model of learning from instructional text was tested on 211 Air Force recruits. The results strongly supported the model, with a high level of fit for a structural equation modeling analysis using LISREL 8 (K. Joreskog & D. Sorbom, 1993). According to the model, learning from text is determined by making connections among ideas, including ideas from the text and from prior knowledge. Making the connections depends in part on 4 variables that differ among individuals: metacognition, specifically the ability to sense that ones mental representation is not coherent and consequently needs extra connections; inference-making ability, which spreads activation among the elements within working memory, which provides the arena in which the connections are made; and domain knowledge, which provides prior knowledge elements for use by the inference-making process to make connections.

Five-Factor Model and NEO-PI-R in Turkey

Personality testing in Turkey has escalated in recent years even though the number of tests with solid psychometric properties is very low. Tests developed or adapted in recent years show a tendency to reveal a structure similar to that of Five-Factor Model. The Turkish version of the NEO-PI-R produced a factor structure that had five factors and that was congruent with the original factor structure. The scores from the adult sample showed some discrepancies from the original normative sample. Correlations with age and gender differences were similar to those obtained in other studies. The discrepancies between the Turkish adult sample and the American normative sample are possibly functions of cultural differences as well as the contextual factors that were influential on the response patterns of the Turkish sample. A second study with bilingual respondents displayed high correlations between the scores on the English and Turkish versions of the NEO-PI-R, and there were significant differences between the two versions on four facet scores. These differences are interpreted in the framework of cultural contexts triggered by language.

Cross-cultural variability of component processes in autobiographical remembering: Japan, Turkey, and the USA.

Although the underlying mechanics of autobiographical memory may be identical across cultures, the processing of information differs. Undergraduates from Japan, Turkey, and the USA rated 30 autobiographical memories on 15 phenomenological and cognitive properties. Mean values were similar across cultures, with means from the Japanese sample being lower on most measures but higher on belief in the accuracy of their memories. Correlations within individuals were also similar across cultures, with correlations from the Turkish sample being higher between measures of language and measures of recollection and belief. For all three cultures, in multiple regression analyses, measures of recollection were predicted by visual imagery, auditory imagery, and emotions, whereas measures of belief were predicted by knowledge of the setting. These results show subtle cultural differences in the experience of remembering.

Turkey's output in social science publications: 1970-1999

Publications originating from Turkey in SSCI were analyzed for changes in the thirty-year span between 1970 and 1999. There has been a high rate of increase in the number of publications and most of these publications were in the form of articles and review papers. The rate of increase was lower than the increase in science publications but the rankings among other countries in sciences and social sciences were comparable. The analysis of impact factors and citations received by published work showed a decline across years. Many of the high-impact publications were joint work with foreign authors. The low level of impact was attributed in part by the difficulty of international scholars in belonging to research networks.

Latent constructs model explaining the attachment-linked variation in autobiographical remembering

In the current study, we proposed a latent constructs model to characterise the qualitative aspects of autobiographical remembering and investigated the structural relations in the model that may vary across individuals. Primarily, we focused on the memories of romantic relationships and argued that attachment anxiety and avoidance would be reflected in the ways that individuals encode, rehearse, or remember autobiographical memories in close relationships. Participants reported two positive and two negative relationship-specific memories and rated the characteristics for each memory. As predicted, the basic memory model yielded appropriate fit, indicating that event characteristics (EC) predicted the frequency of rehearsal (RC) and phenomenology at retrieval (PC). When attachment variables were integrated, the model showed that rehearsal mediated the link between anxiety and PC, especially for negative memories. On the other hand, for avoidance EC was the key factor mediating the link between avoidance and RC, as well as PC. Findings were discussed with respect to autobiographical memory functions emphasising a systematically, integrated framework.

Consistency of adults’ earliest memories across two years

ABSTRACT The consistency of earliest memories in content, dating, and memory qualities was investigated. A total of 84 (27 males; Mage = 24.93, SD = 1.36) adults reported earliest memories, estimated ages, and rated their recollections on memory qualities with a two-year time lag. At Time 2, their original reports at Time 1 were presented and they were asked to report whether the earliest memories they recalled at Time 2 were the same. Fifty-six per cent of the participants reported the same earliest memories and those remembering the same events had earlier memories than those remembering different ones. Although no significant differences were observed in estimated ages on the basis of mean ages, a predating bias of later memories and a tendency to postdate earlier memories were observed on the basis of a 48-month cut-off point. Thus, how the data is analysed is critical in detecting dating biases or errors affecting conclusions and interpretations about the dating consistency of earliest memories. Finally, memory qualities of earliest memories displayed a high level of consistency with a two-year time lag regardless of remembering the same versus different event.

Autobiographical remembering regulates emotions: a functional perspective

ABSTRACT Emotional deviation has been considered an essential factor in emotion regulation, in that, attempts to compensate for the deviation is reflected on cognitive processes. In the present study, we focused on autobiographical remembering and tested the functional role of memory on emotion regulation. We specifically examined the congruence effect in individuals’ subsequent memory reports after recalling emotional events. Individuals were randomly assigned to three groups to report either sadness or anger evoking events or emotionally unspecified events that they experienced in the last five years. Results supported mood-incongruence, but only for the emotional memory groups. Despite highly negative memories reported in the initial recall, individuals in anger- and sad-memory groups revealed an up-regulation trend in subsequent recall. Furthermore, sadness and anger induction affected phenomenological features of the subsequently reported memory. Overall, our findings supported for the emotion regulation function of remembering that serves counter-regulation of the negative emotion. We discuss potential mechanisms in the light of explanations by a functional approach to autobiographical memory.

Remembering successes and failures: rehearsal characteristics influence recollection and distancing

ABSTRACT We investigated the relationship between components of rumination, brooding and reflection, and autobiographical remembering by testing whether voluntary and involuntary rehearsal mediated rumination-related variation in the sensory-affective and metacognitive features of memory experience. We focused on achievement and failure memories as both are goal-related events, yet they represent distinct experiences in terms of valence and functionality. For failure memories, brooding was associated with intense recollection and reduced psychological distance. Brooding was related to enhanced distance of achievements, indicating the disruptive effects of brooding on remembering. Although reflection attenuated the recollective experience for both achievement and failure memories, it brought achievement memories to a subjective closer past. Structural equation modelling demonstrated the mediating role of involuntary remembering on the pattern of remembering experience.