Effects of Age on Involuntary Autobiographical Memories

Involuntary autobiographical memories in and outside the laboratory: How different are they from voluntary autobiographical memories?

“…For example, involuntary memories have been repeatedly found to be of specific events as opposed to general events (Ball & Little, 2006;Berntsen, 1998;Berntsen & Hall, 2004;Schlagman et al, 2007). This predominance of speh cific events is in sharp contrast to mainstream research on voluntary autobiographical memories, whereby people often recall general events, even when explicitly asked to provide specific memories (Barsalou, 1988;Linton, 1986; , ) Williams & Dritschel, 1992).…”

“…Given that emotional valence of involuntary memories also affects current mood in a congruent way (see Berntsen, 1996), negative involuntary memories can therefore have a negative effect on a participant's current mood (Schlagman et al, 2007). This finding may have important practical implications for a variety of clinical conditions in which patients may be inadvertently exposed to negative cues and therefore would be vulnerable to experiencing specific negative involuntary autobiographical memories.…”

“…A related question was to examine the relationship between the valence of the cue phrase and the participants' own ratings of the emotional valence of their memories. If cues form part of the remembered event (as was shown by Berntsen [1998] and Schlagman et al [2007]), then valence ratings should be highest for memories retrieved to positive cue words and lowest for memories retrieved to negative cue words, irrespective of memory type.…”

“…ple, making a cup of tea or brushing one's teeth (Berntsen, 1998;Kvavilashvili & Mandler, 2004;Schlagman et al, 2007). second, the majority of memories are elicited by d easily identifiable cues, most of which correspond to and form central features of the memory content (Berntsen, 1998;Berntsen & Hall, 2004;Schlagman et al, 2007).…”

“…second, the majority of memories are elicited by d easily identifiable cues, most of which correspond to and form central features of the memory content (Berntsen, 1998;Berntsen & Hall, 2004;Schlagman et al, 2007). Cues have also been found to be predominantly external (i.e., present in the environment), as opposed to internal thoughts (Ball & Little, 2006;Berntsen, 1998;Berntsen & Hall, 2004;Kvavilashvili & Mandler, 2004;Mace, 2004;Schlagman et al, 2007). Furthermore, Berntsen (2007) reported that the majority of external cues from her 1998 diary study (i.e., 66%) were peripheral aspects of the envit ronment-that is, aspects of the environment that were not directly related to the current activity of the rememberer.…”