Autobiographical memory functions in young Japanese men and women

Abstract

The present study examined whether the three major functions of autobiographical memory observed in Western societies (i.e., directing-behaviour, social-bonding and self-continuity) also exist in an East Asian society. Two self-report measures were used to assess the autobiographical memory functions of Japanese men and women. Japanese young adults (N = 451, ages 17-28 years) first completed the original Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) Questionnaire. They subsequently received three TALE items that represented memory functions and attempted to recall a specific instance of memory recall for each item. Confirmatory factor analyses on the TALE showed that the three functions were replicated in the current sample. However, Japanese participants reported lower levels of all three functions than American participants in a previous study. We also explored whether there was an effect of gender in this Japanese sample. Women reported higher levels of the self-continuity and social-bonding functions than men. Finally, participants recalled more specific instances of memory recall for the TALE items that had received higher ratings on the TALE, suggesting that the findings on the first measure were supported by the second measure. Results are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory in a cross-cultural context.

The Italian version of the Thinking About Life Experiences Questionnaire and its relationship with gender, age, and life events on Facebook

“…Prior literature on functional use of AMs in everyday life has assigned a particular role to cultural variations of AMs claiming for further studies (Alea et al, ). Coherently, with our expectations, results at exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses corroborated previous findings about universality of TALE‐R (e.g., Buck & Alea, 2011; Alea et al, ; Maki et al, ; Vranić et al, ) and supported the idea that the Italian version of the TALE share the well‐known tripartite structure based on directive‐behavior, social‐bonding, and self‐continuity functions of AMs. Then, it is a valid measure for assessing the functions of AMs in people with different cultural backgrounds.…”

“…Germans (Harris et al, 2014;Rasmussen & Habermas, 2011), the Japanese (Maki, Kawasaki, Demiray, & Janssen, 2015), and Croatians (Vrani c et al, 2018), and results were in line with the tripartite model of the functions of AMs. However, authors underlined the importance of performing further cross-cultural studies both to reveal the critical role of culture in shaping how people use the past to serve them in the present and future and to validate existing measures and assessment methods on functions of AMs (Alea & Wang, 2015).…”

“…Then, it is a valid measure for assessing the functions of AMs in people with different cultural backgrounds. Linear correlations between the three TALE‐R factorial scores in the current exploratory factor analysis were a little quite higher than prior works (Alea et al, ; Bluck & Alea, ; Maki et al, ; Vranić et al, ), explaining the fitness of our measurement model with a second‐order factor. The high correlation between all three factorial scores we found in the present study is consistent with previous findings that have demonstrated a strict interdependence of all the three functions of AMs (Andreani, ).…”

“…Furthermore, the factorial equivalence across age and gender and internal consistency of the subscale items within age and gender groups was also shown. Successive cross‐cultural studies tested for generalizability of the TALE‐R on samples of Trinidadians (Alea, Bluck, & Ali, ), Danes and Germans (Harris et al, ; Rasmussen & Habermas, ), the Japanese (Maki, Kawasaki, Demiray, & Janssen, ), and Croatians (Vranić et al, ), and results were in line with the tripartite model of the functions of AMs. However, authors underlined the importance of performing further cross‐cultural studies both to reveal the critical role of culture in shaping how people use the past to serve them in the present and future and to validate existing measures and assessment methods on functions of AMs (Alea & Wang, ).…”

“…Overall, cross‐cultural studies aimed at analyzing gender and age differences in the functional use of AMs reported mixed results. Some studies have evidenced no gender differences (Bluck & Alea, ; Harris et al, ), whereas others have drawn women to use more than men their AMs for self‐continuity, and social‐bonding (Maki et al, ) or for directive‐behavior purposes (Vranić et al, ). Similarly, Bluck and Alea () have shown no age difference in using AMs for the social function but have described middle‐aged adults as more heavy users of AMs for self and directive purposes.…”