Memories from the cradle

How far back can we, as adults, remember details of our life experiences? Current popular and scientific beliefs are contradictory, with the latter stipulating that personal memories do not begin until the late preschool years (age 4–5 years) and the former claiming that we not only remember being born, but can also remember in utero experiences. In this review, these beliefs are examined in a scientific context and evaluated in terms of empirical data about the development of early memory. The theory proposed here is that memories for personal experiences are not possible until the advent of the cognitive self, around the age of 18 to 24 months. This age is much earlier than that proposed as the age of the earliest memories in other scientific accounts and much later than that proposed in popular beliefs about early memory. New data from a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of early memory development and the emergence of the self clearly show the origins of personal memory coincide with the emergence of the early self.     

Remembering and repeating in multiple personality

This paper is a case-history of a student in his early twenties tortured by different personalities of different ages and sexes vying for control of his body. Guilt over an incestuous relationship with his mother is uncovered and understood in the context of his whole life. Confusion between memories of fantasies, memories of sleep dreams, memories of daydreams, and memories of actual memories are described, the elucidation of which lead to clearer thinking and memory, and more tolerance for the previously distorted affectladen situations of his past. Thus his belief that he was experimented on in an alien spaceship becomes the memory of an operating-room diagnostic experience.

A hypothesis is put forward that the separate personalities in the multiple personality are not simply the products of ego splits, but are at the instant they are formed a ‘doubling’ of the personality that is being copied. Immediately thereafter, splitting mechanisms create differences between the two separate personalities, using projective and introjective mechanisms. Integration of the various personalities, the ultimate goal in treatment, is made difficult by the patient's fear of loss of self through fragmentation, when the self is felt to be in danger of being intruded upon.     

Late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships

This study examined late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships. Participants were 88 European Americans (mean age = 19 years) who reported 3 self-defining memories of their choosing and were selected for the study because they reported a memory about parents and/or peers. Memory narratives were coded for themes of separation, closeness, and conflict and for 2 kinds of meaning: learning lessons and gaining insight. Parent memories emphasized separation more so than peer memories, which emphasized closeness. Within parent memories, however, separation and closeness were equally prevalent. Parent separation was exemplified by experiences of parental divorce, parent closeness by comforting a grieving parent, and peer closeness by episodes of first-time romance. Conflict was more prevalent in parent than peer memories and was associated with meaning-making. Findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of self-defining memories for illuminating contexts of relationship development in late adolescence and for understanding the emergence of identity and the life story.     

Remembering,imagining, false memories & personal meanings

The Self-Memory System encompasses the working self, autobiographical memory and episodic memory. Specific autobiographical memories are patterns of activation over knowledge structures in autobiographical and episodic memory brought about by the activating effect of cues. The working self can elaborate cues based on the knowledge they initially activate and so control the construction of memories of the past and the future. It is proposed that such construction takes place in the remembering–imagining system – a window of highly accessible recent memories and simulations of near future events. How this malfunctions in various disorders is considered as are the implication of what we term the modern view of human memory for notions of memory accuracy. We show how all memories are to some degree false and that the main role of memories lies in generating personal meanings.     

The emergence of autobiographical memory: a social cultural developmental theory

The authors present a multicomponent dynamic developmental theory of human autobiographical memory that emerges gradually across the preschool years. The components that contribute to the process of emergence include basic memory abilities, language and narrative, adult memory talk, temporal understanding, and understanding of self and others. The authors review the empirical developmental evidence within each of these components to show how each contributes to the timing, quantity, and quality of personal memories from the early years of life. The authors then consider the relevance of the theory to explanations of childhood amnesia and how the theory accounts for and predicts the complex findings on adults' earliest memories, including individual, gender, and cultural differences.     

Relationship between frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and cognitive failure

Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personal experiences that pop into mind without a conscious attempt at their retrieval. This study investigated individual differences in the number of involuntary autobiographical memories, and explored the relationship between the frequency of occurrence in involuntary autobiographical memory and cognitive failures in everyday memory, as indexed by metamemory questionnaires. A total of 24 undergraduate students reported involuntary autobiographical memories in controlled field interviews, and completed the Everyday Memory Questionnaire and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. The results showed that, despite controlled conditions, considerable individual differences were observed in the number of involuntary autobiographical memories reported while walking along a prescribed route on the campus, and that reported memories were predominantly serving self function. In addition, the number of involuntary autobiographical memories was positively related to cognitive failures in everyday memory: participants who acknowledged more problems in everyday memory had a higher frequency of involuntary memories. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the complementary function of involuntary autobiographical memory in everyday life.     

Virtually True: Children's Acquisition of False Memories in Virtual Reality

Previous work on human memory has shown that prompting participants with false events and self-relevant information via different types of media such as narratives, edited 2-dimensional images, and mental imagery creates false memories. This study tested a new form of media for studying false memory formation: Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET). Using this tool, we examined how memory was affected by viewing dynamic simulations of avatars performing novel actions. In the study, 55 preschool and elementary children were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 memory prompt conditions (idle, mental imagery, IVET simulation of another child, or IVET simulation of self). Each child was questioned 3 different times: once before the memory prompt, once immediately after the memory prompt, and once approximately 5 days after the memory prompt. Results showed that preschool children were equally likely to develop false memories regardless of memory prompt condition. But, for elementary children, the mental imagery and IVET self conditions caused significantly more false memories than the idle condition. Implications regarding the use of digital media in courtroom settings, clinical therapy settings, entertainment, and other applications are discussed.     

Culture and language in the emergence of autobiographical memory

Current conceptualizations of childhood amnesia assume that there is a "barrier" to remembering early experiences that must be overcome in order for one to begin to accumulate autobiographical memories. In contrast, we present a social-cultural-developmental perspective on the emergence of autobiographical memory. We first demonstrate the gradual emergence of autobiographical memories across the preschool years and then relate this developmental process to specific developments in language, narrative, and understanding of self and other that vary among individuals, as well as by culture and gender.     

The Life Story Schema

Current work on autobiographical memory does not take the term autobiographical seriously enough. Doing so requires taking not just single events, but the whole life and its coherence, into account: Only memories that are linked to self through their emotional or motivational significance over one's life are truly autobiographical. We introduce a new construct, the life story schema, a skeletal mental representation of life's major components and links. The life story schema provides 5 conceptual extensions to current models of autobiographical memory. The conclusion that results from these extensions is that the life story schema serves to bind autobiographical memory and the self over time. Research needed to substantiate our claims and further questions generated by the life story schema construct are discussed.     

Memory and Affect: Autobiographical Memory Distribution and Availability in Normal Adults and Recently Detoxifed Alcoholics

An autobiographical memory task was administered to a group of 15 male alcoholics (duration of abuse x = 16 years) and to a control group comprised of 15 nonabusers. The alcoholics were inpatients in a chemical dependence treatment program who had their last drink 8 days prior to testing. Two aspects of autobiographical memory were compared. First, the distribution of memories for life events over the lifespan clearly differed for the two groups. The alcoholic group recalled far fewer memories from the most recent 5 years and showed an exaggerated tendency to recall memories from their early adulthood when compared to the control group. This result is consistent with a model of the onset of a temporally graded retrograde amnesia subsequent to a protracted period of alcohol abuse. In such cases the context for self-evaluation may remain heavily rooted in late adolescence. Second, in contrast to results of the control group, the data from men in the alcohol group revealed no relationship between latency to report autobiographical memories associated with a particular affect and self-rated frequency of such affects. This dissociation indicates the possible impact of atypical memory performance on views of the self.     

Infantile amnesia reconsidered: a cross-cultural analysis

A number of theories have been offered over the past hundred years to explain the phenomenon of infantile amnesia, the common inability to remember autobiographical experiences from the first years of life. Recent comparative studies that examine autobiographical memories in different populations, particularly populations in North America and East Asia, have yielded intriguing findings that provide a unique opportunity to revisit some of the major theoretical views and to propose new accounts. In light of these findings, this article discusses five theoretical explanations for infantile amnesia, including cognitive and social discontinuity, the emergence of the self, early parent-child memory sharing, functions of autobiographical memory, and the complexity of life experience. The reconsideration of infantile amnesia from a cross-cultural perspective suggests that while the basic mechanisms and contributing factors may be universal, the specific ways in which these mechanisms and factors are manifested differ qualitatively across cultures. A theoretical approach that takes the larger cultural context into account can help us understand this long-standing puzzle.     

Memories defining the self in Alzheimer’s disease

ABSTRACT

There is a debate over the extent to which personal identity or the self is preserved in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Autobiographical memory deficits at early stages of AD could contribute to altering patients’ self. However, the nature of the relationship between autobiographical memory deficits and the self in AD has not been much investigated experimentally. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the integrative meaning of self-defining memories (SDMs) in early stages of AD and to analyse its relationship with the self-concept. The results showed that, when compared to the control group, AD patients less frequently extracted meaning from their SDMs and the meaning was less frequently tied to the self. Patients exhibited some altered aspects of the self-concept (i.e., complexity and strength), though some other components still persisted (i.e., valence and certainty). Correlation analyses showed that the impaired integrative meaning in the AD group was correlated with some changes in self-concept. We suggest that integrative meaning may act as a bridge between autobiographical memories and the self-concept, with reduced integration abilities appearing as a potential mechanism for the deterioration of the self-concept in AD.     

Place and the self: An autobiographical memory synthesis

In this article, I argue that the relationship between place and self can be accounted for by recent theoretical work on autobiographical memory. The link between place and self is conceptualized as a transitory mental representation that emerges as a “place of mine” (personal autobiographical experience) from a “place” (declarative knowledge). The function of “place of mine” is to guide personal memory and self-knowing consciousness of periods of our lives. I combine inquiries of memory, self, and place in a triadic relationship, a synthesis, suggesting a conceptual model for the phenomenon of place-related self as a sub-system of the self. This is formed by a causal progression from a physical place across time via emotional and cognitive bonds, components of the autobiographical information grounding the self, apportioned across declarative memory. Finally, using the methods of factor analysis and structural equation modeling, I show that the proposed model accounts for previous and new data on place-related identity.     

Wisdom and memory: Autobiographical memories as the foundation for the recall of wisdom incidents

This article explores how autobiographical memory serves as the foundation for people's accounts of their wisdom. Two complementary approaches to wisdom are introduced: an intrapersonal or person-based approach, which defines wisdom as personal qualities or personality traits, and an interactionist or endeavor-based approach, which focuses on wisdom incidents—people's displays of wisdom in real-life situations. The literatures on autobiographical memory and on wisdom suggest that, when wisdom is defined as personal qualities or personality traits, its foundation in autobiographical memory is self-concept. However, when wisdom is defined as actual displays of wisdom, its foundation in autobiographical memory is specific autobiographical memories. The article discusses how autobiographical memory grounds and constrains the memories of wisdom. Further, using research on autobiographical memory, it argues that memories of wisdom incidents serve self, directive, and social functions, and that such memories are highly accessible, vividly remembered, and reasonably accurate.     

Personality traits and autobiographical memory: Openness is positively related to the experience and usage of recollections

We examined the relationship between the Five-Factor Model of personality and the experience and overall usage of autobiographical memory in two studies. In both studies we found that Openness was related to the directive and self functions of overall usage. In addition, Openness was related to the vividness, reliving, coherence, and centrality of event to the person's identity and life story of concrete memories in Study 2, whereas this was not found in Study 1. For the remaining "Big Five" personality traits the results were less consistent across studies. Neuroticism was related to the self function in Study 1, but also to the directive function as well as to negative affect of concrete memories in Study 1. Extraversion was positively related to the social function as well as to conversational rehearsal of memories in Study 1, but this was also not replicated in Study 2. Finally, in both studies there were no significant relationships with regard to Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Overall, the findings replicate and extend previous work showing a positive relationship between Openness and the experience and overall usage of autobiographical memory, whereas the roles for the remaining "Big Five" are less clear.     

Remembering and telling self-consistent and self-discrepant memories

It has been argued that memories that are inconsistent with one's self would differ from those that are consistent with the self. The present study addresses retrieval, phenomenology, rehearsal and narrative characteristics of autobiographical memories that are consistent versus discrepant with one's self. One hundred participants were asked to recall one self-consistent and one self-discrepant memory as well as an episode of telling these memories to others. They also filled out the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire and the Centrality of Event Scale for each memory. Results showed no difference between self-consistent and self-discrepant memories in retrieval time, specificity or phenomenology. However, self-discrepant memory narratives contained more meaning-making statements and less autonomy than self-consistent memories. Compared to self-consistent memories, self-discrepant memories were told to fewer people, and listener responses were more negative when they were told. Results are discussed in relation to the functions these memories serve.     

The narrative self,distributed memory,and evocative objects

In this article, I outline various ways in which artifacts are interwoven with autobiographical memory systems and conceptualize what this implies for the self. I first sketch the narrative approach to the self, arguing that who we are as persons is essentially our (unfolding) life story, which, in turn, determines our present beliefs and desires, but also directs our future goals and actions. I then argue that our autobiographical memory is partly anchored in our embodied interactions with an ecology of artifacts in our environment. Lifelogs, photos, videos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewelry, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally laden autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memory is thus distributed across embodied agents and various environmental structures. To defend this claim, I draw on and integrate distributed cognition theory and empirical research in human-technology interaction. Based on this, I conclude that the self is neither defined by psychological states realized by the brain nor by biological states realized by the organism, but should be seen as a distributed and relational construct.     

Investigating the mediating role of self-construal on the relationship between cultural group (Malay and Australian) and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory

ABSTRACT

Cultural differences in autobiographical memory characteristics and function have often been presumed to be associated with different cultural beliefs related to the self. The current research aimed to investigate whether self-construal mediated the relationship between cultural group and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory. Caucasian Australians (n?=?71) and Malay Malaysians (n?=?50) completed an online questionnaire that included the Self-Defining Memory task, the Thinking About Life Experiences Revised Questionnaire and the Self Construal Scale. As expected, the Australian group provided longer, more autonomously oriented, specific memories than the Malay group. However, contrary to our predictions, self-construal did not mediate the relationships between cultural group and memory characteristics. The Malay group reported more frequently using autobiographical memories for self-continuity than the Australian group. Finally, there was support for an indirect pathway between cultural group and use of autobiographical memories for self-continuity and social-bonding through self-construal (i.e. independent self relative to interdependent self). The findings highlight the importance of explicitly examining values assumed to be associated with autobiographical remembering, and relating these values to memory characteristics and function.     

On recognition and self: a discussion based on Nyāya,Mīmāṃsā and Buddhism

The phenomenon of recognition is a point of contention in the debate between the orthodox Hindus and Buddhists on whether the self (ātman) exists. The Hindus, including Naiyāyikas and Mīmā?sakas, argue that recognition evidences the existence of the self, while Buddhist philosopher ?āntarak?ita maintains that there is no self and recognition should be explained in another way. This article examined two disputes, focusing on the two subsidiary aspects of a recognition: memory and self-recognition. For Hindus, it is the existence of the self that makes memory and self-recognition possible. For Buddhists, it is due to the phenomena of memories and self-recognitions that people postulate the existence of the self. I argue that Buddhist explanation of memory is more acceptable, while their debates on self-recognition should be considered as a tie.