Abstract
The concepts of autobiographical memory and episodic memory are examined. Since the study of autobiographical memory was revitalised in the 1980s, its relation to the strong tradition of verbal learning research, and in particular to the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, has been a nagging problem. The analysis results in the proposal of a taxonomy of memory which respects the meaning of well-established concepts. Autobiographical memory is seen as a subcategory of episodic memory, in parallel with a new category of “narrative memories” which also have personal context but lacks a personal core event. Some studies illustrating this distinction are described.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
American Psychologist (1991) 46, 16–48.
Baddeley, A. (1982). Domains of recollection. Psychological Review, 89, 708–729.
Banaji, M. R. and Crowder, R. G. (1989). The bankruptcy of everyday memory. American Psychologist44, 1185–1193.
Barsalou, L. W. (1988). The content and organization of autobiographical memories. In U. Neisser and E. Winograd (eds.), Remembering Reconsidered: Ecological and Traditional Approaches to the Study of Memory, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 193–243.
Bjork, R. A. and Richardson-Klavehn, A. (1989). On the puzzling relationship between environmental context and human memory. In C. Izawa (ed.), Current Issues in Cognitive Processes: The Tulane Flowerree Symposium, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale.
Bower, G. H. and Gilligan, S. G. (1979). Remembering information related to one’s self. J. Research in Personality13, 420–432.
Brewer, W. F. (1986). What is autobiographical memory? In D. C. Rubin (ed.), Autobiographical Memory, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 25–49.
Brown, N. R. (1990). Organization of public events in long-term memory. J. Experimental Psychology: General119, 297–314.
Brown, N. R., Rips, L. J., and Shevell, S. K. (1985). Subjective dates of natural events in very-long-term memory. Cognitive Psychology17, 139–177.
Brown, R. and Kulik, J. (1977). Flashbulb memories. Cognition5, 73–99.
Conway, M. A. (1987). Verifying autobiographical facts. Cognition25, 39–58.
Conway, M. A. (1990). Autobiographical Memory: An introduction. Open University Press, Milton Keynes.
Davies, G. and Thomson, D. (1988). Context in context, in G. Davies and D. Thomson (eds.), Memory in Context: Context in Memory, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 335–345.
Gunter, B. (1987). Poor Reception. Misunderstanding and Forgetting Broadcast News. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale.
Larsen, S. F. (1983a). Erindringens natur og historie. Psyke & Logos4, 277–307.
Larsen, S. F. (1983b). Text processing and knowledge updating in memory for radio news. Discourse Processes6, 21–38.
Larsen, S. F. (1985). Specific background knowledge and knowledge updating. In J. Allwood and E. Hjelmqvist (eds.), Foregrounding Background, Doxa, Lund, pp. 25–36.
Larsen, S. F. (1988). Remembering without experiencing: Memory for reported events. In U. Neisser and E. Winograd(eds.), Remembering reconsidered: ecological and traditional approaches to the study of memory, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 326–355.
Larsen, S. F. (in press). Potential flashbulbs: Memories of ordinary news as the baseline. In E. Winograd and U. Neisser (eds.), Affect and accuracy in recall: the problem of “Flashbulb” memories, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Neisser, U. (1989). Five kinds of self-knowledge. Philosophical Psychology1, 35–59.
Pillemer, D. B. (in press). Remembering personal circumstances: A functional analysis. In E. Winograd and U. Neisser (eds.), Affect and accuracy in recall: the problem of “Flashbulb” memories, CambridgeUniversity Press, New York.
Reisberg, D. and Heuer, F. (in press) ‘Remembering the details of emotional events’, in E. Winograd and U. Neisser (eds.), Affect and accuracy in recall: the problem of “Flashbulb” memories, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Thomson, D. and Davies, G. (1988). Introduction. In G. Davies and D. Thomson (eds.), Memory in Context: Context in Memory, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 1–10.
Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving and W. Donaldson (eds.), Organization and memory, Academic Press, New York, pp. 381–403.
Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of Episodic Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Wagenaar, W. A. (1986). My memory: A study of autobiographical memory over six years. Cognitive Psychology18, 225–252.
Winograd, E. and Neisser, U. (eds.) (in press). Affect and Accuracy in Recall: The Problem of “Flashbulb” Memories, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Larsen, S.F. (1992). Personal Context in Autobiographical and Narrative Memories. In: Conway, M.A., Rubin, D.C., Spinnler, H., Wagenaar, W.A. (eds) Theoretical Perspectives on Autobiographical Memory. NATO ASI Series, vol 65. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7967-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7967-4_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4136-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-7967-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive