Event components in autobiographical memories


Dijkstra K., Mısırlısoy M.

MEMORY, vol.14, no.7, pp.846-852, 2006 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 14 Issue: 7
  • Publication Date: 2006
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/09658210600759733
  • Journal Name: MEMORY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.846-852
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Autobiographical memories contain activity, location, temporal, and participant information (Lancaster & Barsalou, 1997). Our study analysed potential dominance of activity information in autobiographical memories. The results indicated stability in dominance of the activity component, defined as similar occurrence in first and subsequent reports, and a relative absence of the temporal component in these verbal reports. Activity dominance also occurred when activity information from the verbal reports was used as a retrieval cue for a subsequent report. Temporal information demonstrated a greater lack of facilitation as a retrieval cue. These findings can be explained from the perspective of embodied cognition in which underlying perceptual states that contain activity, location, and other participant information are reconstructed during retrieval, whereas temporal information, as a more abstract component, is not.