title: The episodicity of verbal reports of personally significant autobiographical memories: vividness correlates with narrative text quality more than with detailedness or memory specificity.
abstract: How can we tell from a memory report whether a memory is episodic or not? Vividness is required by many definitions, whereas detailedness, memory specificity, and narrative text type are competing definitions of episodicity used in research. We explored their correlations with vividness in personally significant autobiographical memories to provide evidence to support their relative claim to define episodic memories. In addition, we explored differences between different memory types and text types as well as between memories with different valences. We asked a lifespan sample (N = 168) of 8-, 12-, 16-, 20-, 40-, and 65-year-olds of both genders (N = 27, 29, 27, 27, 28, 30) to provide brief oral life narratives. These were segmented into thematic memory units. Detailedness of person, place, and time did not correlate with each other or either vividness, memory specificity, or narrative text type. Narrative text type, in contrast, correlated both with vividness and memory specificity, suggesting narrative text type as a good criterion of episodicity. Emotionality turned out to be an even better predictor of vividness. Also, differences between narrative, chronicle, and argument text types and between specific versus more extended and atemporal memories were explored as well as differences between positive, negative, ambivalent, neutral, contamination, and redemption memory reports. It is concluded that temporal sequentiality is a central characteristic of episodic autobiographical memories. Furthermore, it is suggested that the textual quality of memory reports should be taken more seriously, and that evaluation and interpretation are inherent aspects of personally significant memories.
authors: Section Psychoanalysis, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt , Frankfurt am Main , Germany.
authors: Tilmann
authors: T
authors: Habermas
authors: Verena
authors: V
authors: Diel
keywords: autobiographical memory; autobiographical reasoning; episodic memory; life story; memory specificity; narrative; redemption sequence; vividness
references: Psychol Bull. 2000 Sep;126(5):748-69
references: 10989622
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Sep;47(11):2305-13
references: 19524094
references: Psychol Rev. 2004 Apr;111(2):486-511
references: 15065919
references: Emotion. 2009 Dec;9(6):751-62
references: 20001120
references: Int J Psychol. 2011 Oct;46(5):321-45
references: 22044305
references: New Dir Child Adolesc Dev. 2011 Spring;2011(131):1-17
references: 21387528
references: Conscious Cogn. 2011 Mar;20(1):16-39
references: 20951059
references: Psychol Rev. 2008 Oct;115(4):985-1011
references: 18954211
references: Psychol Bull. 2007 Jan;133(1):122-48
references: 17201573
references: Depress Anxiety. 2008;25(11):E121-32
references: 17957809
references: Dev Psychol. 2008 May;44(3):707-21
references: 18473638
references: Psychol Rev. 2000 Apr;107(2):261-88
references: 10789197
references: Emotion. 2010 Jun;10(3):312-23
references: 20515221
references: Am Psychol. 2003 Jan;58(1):78-9
references: 12674822
references: J Pers. 2009 Apr;77(2):527-59
references: 19220721
references: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 May;9(5):646-52
references: 23482628
references: Psychol Bull. 1997 May;121(3):331-54
references: 9136640
references: Dev Psychol. 2008 Jul;44(4):1135-47
references: 18605840
references: Memory. 2013;21(6):646-56
references: 23240988
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 2002;53:1-25
references: 11752477
references: J Pers. 2011 Apr;79(2):391-428
references: 21395593
references: Front Psychol. 2012 Feb 28;3:53
references: 22403560
references: Conscious Cogn. 2013 Sep;22(3):1061-73
references: 23948342
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Sep;47(11):2314-29
references: 19524095
references: J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 1989 Oct;11(5):724-44
references: 2808661
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Sep;47(11):2181-7
references: 19100757
references: Cogn Emot. 2011 Feb;25(2):206-19
references: 21432668
references: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2008 Sep;3(3):244-52
references: 19015116
references: Psychol Aging. 2002 Dec;17(4):677-89
references: 12507363