title: Retrieval and phenomenology of autobiographical memories in blind individuals.
abstract: Although visual imagery is argued to be an essential component of autobiographical memory, there have been surprisingly few studies on autobiographical memory processes in blind individuals, who have had no or limited visual input. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how blindness affects retrieval and phenomenology of autobiographical memories. We asked 48 congenital/early blind and 48 sighted participants to recall autobiographical memories in response to six cue words, and to fill out the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire measuring a number of variables including imagery, belief and recollective experience associated with each memory. Blind participants retrieved fewer memories and reported higher auditory imagery at retrieval than sighted participants. Moreover, within the blind group, participants with total blindness reported higher auditory imagery than those with some light perception. Blind participants also assigned higher importance, belief and recollection ratings to their memories than sighted participants. Importantly, these group differences remained the same for recent as well as childhood memories.
authors: a Department of Psychology , Boğaziçi University , İstanbul , Turkey.
authors: Ali Í
authors: AÍ
authors: Tekcan
authors: Engin
authors: E
authors: Yılmaz
authors: Burcu Kaya
authors: BK
authors: Kızılöz
authors: Dilay Z
authors: DZ
authors: Karadöller
authors: Merve
authors: M
authors: Mutafoğlu
authors: Aslı Aktan
authors: AA
authors: Erciyes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001766:Blindness / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Autobiographical memory; Blindness; Memory phenomenology; Visual imagery; Visual impairment