Current concerns in involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories

Involuntary autobiographical memories are conscious memories of personal events that come to mind with no preceding attempts at retrieval. It is often assumed that such memories are closely related to current concerns – i.e., uncompleted personal goals. Here we examined involuntary versus voluntary (deliberately retrieved) autobiographical memories in relation to earlier registered current concerns measured by the Personal Concern Inventory (PCI; Cox & Klinger, 2000). We found no differences between involuntary and voluntary memories with regard to frequency or characteristics of current concern-related contents. However, memories related to current concerns were rated as more central to the person’s identity, life story and expectations for the future than non-concern-related memories, irrespective of mode of recall. Depression and PTSD symptoms correlated positively with the proportion of current concern-related involuntary and voluntary memories. The findings support the view that involuntary and voluntary remembering is subject to similar motivational constraints.     

Characterisation of music-evoked autobiographical memories

Despite music's prominence in Western society and its importance to individuals in their daily lives, very little is known about the memories and emotions that are often evoked when hearing a piece of music from one's past. We examined the content of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) using a novel approach for selecting stimuli from a large corpus of popular music, in both laboratory and online settings. A set of questionnaires probed the cognitive and affective properties of the evoked memories. On average, 30% of the song presentations evoked autobiographical memories, and the majority of songs also evoked various emotions, primarily positive, that were often felt strongly. The third most common emotion was nostalgia. Analyses of written memory reports found both general and specific levels of autobiographical knowledge to be represented, and several social and situational contexts for memory formation were common across many memories. The findings indicate that excerpts of popular music serve as potent stimuli for studying the structure of autobiographical memories.     

The unpredictable past: spontaneous autobiographical memories outnumber autobiographical memories retrieved strategically

Involuntary autobiographical memories are spontaneously arising memories of personal events, whereas voluntary memories are retrieved strategically. Voluntary remembering has been studied in numerous experiments while involuntary remembering has been largely ignored. It is generally assumed that voluntary recall is the standard way of remembering, whereas involuntary recall is the exception. However, little is known about the actual frequency of these two types of remembering in daily life. Here, 48 Danish undergraduates recorded their involuntary versus voluntary autobiographical memories during a day using a mechanical counter. Involuntary memories were reported three times as frequently as voluntary memories. Compared to voluntary memories, they were associated less with problem solving and social sharing and more with day dreaming, periods of boredom, no reasons for remembering and predominantly came to mind during unfocused attention. The findings suggest that involuntary recall is a typical way of accessing the personal past.     

Physiological, psychological and behavioral consequences of activating autobiographical memories

Activating an autobiographical memory for a specific childhood event can have immediate and robust physiological, psychological, and behavioral consequences. The target behavior was public speaking, a vital skill about which many people are socially anxious. In this study, it was suggested to subjects that they had a positive public speaking experience in early childhood; they then thought about and retrieved details of this true childhood memory. Compared to a control condition in which a different suggestion was made, subjects in the treatment group exhibited superior public speaking performance on the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Further, physiological measures of cortisol and a self-report measure of anxiety (STAI-S) reflected a significantly smaller increase in anxiety from before to after the TSST in the treatment than control condition. Activating autobiographical memory for an event increases the accessibility of that memory and consequently affects performance on related behaviors.     

Priming autobiographical memories: How recalling the past may affect everyday forms of autobiographical remembering

This study investigated the idea that when one recalls past episodes, that the content of those memories will activate additional episodic memories with like content, and such memories will then have the potential of surfacing in subsequent acts of involuntary and voluntary recall. We tested the episodic content priming hypothesis in two experiments. In Experiment 1, priming group participants first recalled memories about specific activities or events and then they were subsequently engaged in a word-cue voluntary autobiographical memory task. The results showed that priming group participants produced more episodic memories involving the primed content on this task than control participants occupied in the same task. In Experiment 2, episodic content priming was further tested on a measure of involuntary autobiographical memory (i.e., the vigilance task). The results on this task also revealed support for the episodic content priming hypothesis, including after a delay of 24 h.     

Involuntary autobiographical memories in dysphoric mood: A laboratory study

The frequency and characteristics of involuntary autobiographical memories were compared in 25 stable dysphoric and 28 non-dysphoric participants, using a new laboratory-based task (Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008). Participants detected infrequent target stimuli (vertical lines) in a simple vigilance task and recorded any involuntary autobiographical memories that came to mind, mostly in response to irrelevant words presented on the screen. Dysphoric participants reported involuntary memories as frequently and as quickly as non-dysphoric participants and their memories were not repetitive intrusive memories of negative or traumatic events. Additional content analysis showed that dysphoric participants did not recall more memories of objectively negative events (e.g., accidents, illnesses, deaths) than non-dysphoric participants. However, significant group differences emerged in terms of a mood congruency effect whereby dysphoric participants rated their memories as more negative than non-dysphoric participants. Moreover, the proportion of negatively rated involuntary memories was related to lower mood ratings at the end of the session in the dysphoric but not in the non-dysphoric group. Finally, groups did not differ on several memory characteristics such as vividness, specificity (high in both groups) and rates of rehearsal (low in both groups). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for research on depression and autobiographical memory are discussed.     

Direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval: How different are they?

Theories of autobiographical memory have emphasised effortful generative retrieval, but recent research indicates that subjectively effortless direct retrieval is common. We compared the processes of direct and generative retrieval. Sixty-five participants retrieved 24 autobiographical memories across three cue types: concrete, emotional, and personal. We recorded retrieval latency, and participants judged direct versus generative retrieval and rated memory specificity, vividness, significance, rehearsal, and emotionality. Overall, direct retrieval was common, especially for personal cues. Directly retrieved memories were recalled faster, were less likely to be specific, and were rated more significant, rehearsed, and emotional than generatively retrieved memories. The speed of both direct and generative retrieval varied similarly according to cue type, suggesting they did not involve fundamentally different cognitive processes. These findings challenge theories that assume direct retrieval bypasses constructive processes. Instead we suggest that both direct and generative retrieval involve construction that is similarly affected by cue concreteness and relevance.     

Snapshots from therapy: Exploring operationalisations and ways of studying flashbulb memories for private events

A total of 13 clients (10 women and 3 men, mean age 32.85 years, SD 10.50) were interviewed after finishing group therapy, and 7 were re-interviewed 4-5 months later. The clients recounted all the specific episodes they remembered from the therapy. The memories were classified as flashbulb memories or non-flashbulb memories according to two different criteria: consistency and phenomenological clarity. Clients had flashbulb memories from therapy according to both operationalisations. Flashbulb memories according to a phenomenology-based operationalisation referred to more unusual episodes and more often to episodes associated with insight than non-flashbulb memories. The consistency operationalisation did not differentiate between flashbulb and non-flashbulb memories with respect to characteristics of the remembered events. Number of remembered episodes was positively related to the subjective evaluation of the therapy.     

Ways of sampling voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memories in daily life

Cognitive psychologists have often equaled retrieval of personal events with voluntary recall from autobiographical memory, but more recent research shows that autobiographical memories often come to mind involuntarily—that is, with no retrieval effort. Voluntary memories have been studied in numerous laboratory experiments in response to word-prompts, whereas involuntary memories primarily have been examined in an everyday living context, using a structured diary procedure. However, it remains unclear how voluntary memories sampled in the laboratory map onto self-prompted voluntary memories in daily life. Here, we used a structured diary procedure to compare different types of voluntary autobiographical memories to their involuntary counterparts. The results replicated previous findings with regard to differences between word-prompted voluntary and involuntary memories, whereas there were fewer differences between self-prompted voluntary and involuntary memories. The findings raise the question as to what is the best way of sampling voluntary memories and the best comparison for involuntary memories.     

Out of one's mind: a study of involuntary semantic memories

The study of memories that pop into one's mind without any conscious attempt to retrieve them began only recently. While there are some studies on involuntary autobiographical memories (e.g., ) research on involuntary semantic memories or mind-popping is virtually non-existent. The latter is defined as an involuntary conscious occurrence of brief items of one's network of semantic knowledge. The recall of these items (e.g., a word, a name, a tune) is not accompanied by additional contextual information and/or involvement of self-a standard feature of involuntary autobiographical memories. The paper reports several diary and questionnaire studies which looked into the nature and frequency of occurrence of these memories. The data show that people do experience involuntary semantic memories which tend to occur without any apparent cues while being engaged in relatively automatic activities. Possible mechanisms of involuntary semantic memories are discussed (e.g., very long-term priming), and the results of the study provide information on the possible duration of the priming effects in everyday life. Related theoretical and methodological issues and future avenues of research in this neglected area are outlined.     

Nonbelieved memories in middle-aged and older people

Previous studies have reported that young participants typically date events that they remember, but no longer believe they experienced, to the period of childhood. The present study investigated whether participants aged between 40 and 79 years dated events related to relinquished memories to the period of childhood, as do younger people, or whether they dated such events to a period later in life. The study also compared believed and nonbelieved memories with respect to memory perspective (1st vs 3rd person perspective). Results indicated that the majority of middle-aged and older people dated nonbelieved memories to the period of childhood (median age = 8 years). No correlation was found between the participants’ current age and their age at the time the nonbelieved event occurred. In addition, results showed that believed memories were more likely to be retrieved from a 1st person perspective than were nonbelieved memories.     

Using memories to motivate future behaviour: An experimental exercise intervention

This study tested a novel memory-based experimental intervention to increase exercise activity. Undergraduate students completed a two-part online survey ostensibly regarding college activity choices. At Time 1, they completed questionnaires that included assessments of exercise-related attitudes, motivation and self-reported behaviours. Next, they described a memory of a positive or negative experience that would increase their motivation to exercise; students in a control condition did not receive a memory prompt. Finally, they rated their intentions to exercise in the future. Eight days following Time 1, students received a Time 2 survey that included an assessment of their self-reported exercise during the prior week. Students in the positive memory condition reported higher levels of subsequent exercise than those in the control condition; students in the negative memory condition reported intermediate levels of exercise. Activating a positive motivational memory had a significant effect on students' self-reported exercise activity even after controlling for prior attitudes, motivation and exercise activity.     

Priming involuntary autobiographical memories in the lab

Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) are recollections of personal past that frequently and spontaneously occur in daily life. Initial studies by Mace (2005) showed that deliberately reminiscing about a certain lifetime period (e.g., high school) significantly increased the number of different IAMs from the same period in subsequent days, suggesting that priming may play a significant role in the retrieval of IAMs in everyday life. In the present study, we used a modified experimental paradigm, originally used by Schlagman and Kvavilashvili (2008), to study IAMs under well-controlled laboratory conditions. Participants completed a monotonous vigilance task twice and reported the occurrence of any spontaneous thoughts that were later classed as IAMs or other thoughts. Priming was manipulated by having experimental participants reminiscing about high school period between the two vigilance tasks and control participants playing simple games. Results showed that participants in the experimental group reported IAMs relating to high school period more frequently during the second vigilance task than those in the control group. In the experimental group, the number of high school memories was marginally higher in the second vigilance task compared to the first vigilance task with the medium effect size, but this within subjects effect was not significant in the control group. Finally, priming also enhanced the retrieval of more remote IAMs in the experimental group compared to the control group. These results suggest that priming may play a significant role in the activation and recall of IAMs and open up interesting avenues for future research.     

Priming voluntary autobiographical memories: Implications for the organisation of autobiographical memory and voluntary recall processes

The goal of this study was to show that voluntary autobiographical memories could be primed by the prior activation of autobiographical memories. Three experiments demonstrated voluntary memory priming with three different approaches. In Experiment 1 primed participants were asked to recall memories from their elementary school years. In a subsequent memory task primed participants were asked to recall memories from any time period, and they produced significantly more memories from their elementary school years than unprimed participants. In Experiment 2 primed participants were asked to recall what they were doing when they had heard various news events occurring between 1998 and 2005. Subsequently these participants produced significantly more memories from this time period than unprimed participants. In Experiment 3 primed participants were asked to recall memories from their teenage years. Subsequently these participants were able to recall more memories from ages 13–15 than unprimed participants, where both had only 1 second to produce a memory. We argue that the results support the notion that episodic memories can activate one another and that some of them are organised according to lifetime periods. We further argue that the results have implications for the reminiscence bump and voluntary recall of the past.     

Individual differences in recognising involuntary autobiographical memories: Impact on the reporting of abstract cues

This study examined individual differences in the ability to recognise involuntary autobiographical memories. We hypothesised that individuals may not always recognise involuntary memories which are cued by abstract experiences (e.g., thoughts or language), while they are better able to recognise those which are cued by concrete sensory/perpetual experiences. We hypothesised that individuals without formal training in psychology would be more prone to these recognition failures than individuals with training in psychology. We tested the hypothesis by comparing the results of general first-year undergraduate students, graduate students in psychology and graduates students in other disciplines after each had participated in a two-week diary study of their naturally occurring involuntary memories. The results showed undergraduate participants and non-psychology graduate participants reporting fewer involuntary memories being triggered by abstract cues than the graduate psychology participants, while the groups did not differ in the report of memories triggered by sensory/perpetual cues. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Elucidating the mental processes underlying the direct retrieval of autobiographical memories

The literature on autobiographical memory retrieval has directed much attention to the concepts of direct retrieval (fast, automatic retrieval) and generative retrieval (slower, deliberative/strategic retrieval). Among the many findings reported on these phenomena, their relative prevalence has stood out as a central feature in many studies, with most studies reporting the frequency of direct retrieval as equal to or exceeding generative retrieval. In this study, we used the retrieve-aloud procedure (a method where participants verbalize their thoughts while retrieving) to delve more deeply into the nature of reports of ubiquitous direct retrieval. We hypothesized that much of the direct retrieval reported in literature is not bona fide direct retrieval (i.e., seemingly automatic retrieval), but is a combination of other retrieval processes, including generative-like retrieval processes. Our results supported this view, showing that less than one-half of all of the observed direct retrievals were bona fide direct retrieval, while the rest were a form of generative retrieval, or fell somewhere in between direct and generative retrieval. We argue that the results suggest that the prevalence of direct retrieval may be overestimated in the literature, and we further propose an alternative classification schema for direct retrievals.     

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.     

“That one makes things small”: Experimentally induced spontaneous memories in 3.5-year-olds

We introduce a new method for examining spontaneous (unprompted) autobiographical memories in 3.5-year-old children, by inducing them in a laboratory setting. Thirty-eight 3.5-year-olds, who had previously participated in a study in our lab involving highly unique props, were brought back after a one-month delay to the same lab arranged as in the original study and with the same Experimenter present. While waiting for the Experimenter in front of the props, their spontaneous verbalizations about the previous unique experiment were recorded, scored, and compared to those of 29 naïve Controls of the same age. The children in the experimental group produced significantly more spontaneous verbalizations related to the to-be-remembered event measured on a variety of dimensions. The study introduces a promising new approach to investigating spontaneous memories in young children in a controlled lab setting. The findings are discussed in relation to involuntary autobiographical memories as examined in adults.