自传体记忆的开端:最早记忆的诱发与评估

童年期遗忘指人们无法回忆起生命最初几年的事情。最早记忆是童年期遗忘开始消退和自传体记忆发生的标志,诸多研究表明成人的最早记忆一般介于3~4岁间,儿童有更早的最早记忆。最早记忆的诱发方法,包括单一最早记忆法、线索词法、穷举法和生命全程法;最早记忆的评估方法,包括自陈式的记忆现象学问卷测量,以及针对记忆叙述内容的编码分析。未来研究要加强纵向研究,追踪最早记忆随年龄而发生的变化;展开特殊人群的研究;完善测量工具;探究早期记忆保持和遗忘的机制。

Origins of autobiographical memory:How to elicit,measure and code the earliest memory

Childhood amnesia refers to the inability of adults to recall events that happened in their early life.Most researchers have argued that the offset of childhood amnesia and the onset of autobiographical memory occur between the ages of 3 and 4 years,but the earliest memories of children occurred at a younger age than did adults.Four approaches have been used to elicit adults' accounts of their early memories,including the single earliest memory method,the cue-word method,the exhaustive method,and the lifespan method.Evaluations of the earliest memories are discussed,including using surveys to measure the phenomenon of earliest memory and encoding the earliest memory accounts of individuals.Future studies should 1) utilize longitudinal designs to track developmental changes in autobiographical memories,2) expand the research to abnormal populations,3) improve measurements and 4) explore the mechanisms in the maintenance and loss of autobiographical memory.