The Wider Importance of Autobiographical Memory Research

Abstract

Much of the work on autobiographical memory would lead us to believe that this is a qualitatively different class of memory to that more commonly examined in cognitive psychology. This paper will present the view that autobiographical memory is subject to the same influences as the rest of our memory, showing the same patterns of change with rehearsal, with successive reconstructions, with the passage of time, with increasing age and with changes in underlying cognitive functioning. Comparisons of autobiographical memory will be drawn with memory for text and memory for public events across the lifespan. It is argued that autobiographical memory research can usefully contribute to our more general studies of memory and that the similarities across memory for autobiographical and other materials make autobiographical memory an extremely useful tool for the wider investigation of cognitive functioning and psychological well-being.