Abstract
One of the most consistently observed phenomena in autobiographical memory research is the reminiscence bump: a tendency for middle-aged and elderly people to access more personal memories from approximately 10–30 years of age. This systematic review (PROSPERO 2017:CRD42017076695) aimed to synthesize peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the reminiscence bump. The researchers conducted searches in nine databases for studies published between the date of inception of each database and the year 2017. Keywords used included: reminiscence, bump, peak, surge, blip, reminiscence effect, and reminiscence component. Sixty-eight quantitative studies, out of 523, met the inclusion criteria. The researchers implemented a thematic analytic technique for data extraction. Four main themes were generated: methods of memory activation/instruction for life scripts, types of memory/life scripts recalled, location of the reminiscence bump, and theoretical accounts for the bump. The two prevailing methods of memory activation implemented were the cuing method and important memories method. Three types of memories/life scripts were recalled: personal/autobiographical memory, memories for public events, and life script events. The findings illustrate differing temporal periods for the bump: approximately 10–30 years for memories for important events, approximately 5–30 years for memories that were induced by word cues, and 6–39 years for studies using life scripts. In explaining the bump, the narrative/identity account and cultural life script account received the most support.
Highlights
When examining the life span distribution of autobiographical memories (AMs), three phenomena are revealed
Investigating if a reminiscence bump is found in AMs in Japanese elders, and the features and content of AMs in general, and in the bump 25 participants more than 60 years old Results showed that a reminiscence bump emerged between 7–25 years, memories within the bump did not differ from other memories in terms of rated features or content
This systematic review provides a comprehensive summary of the empirical research on the reminiscence bump published between 1988 and 2017
Summary
When examining the life span distribution of autobiographical memories (AMs), three phenomena are revealed. The first is childhood amnesia, or the limited recollection of AMs from a very young age, which is present in the life span retrieval curve as a steadily rising function between 0–8 years of age [1]. The second, the recency effect, dictates that memories recalled by most individuals are of recent events, and the frequency of these memories decline gradually [2]. The reminiscence bump— known as “the bump”—enhances memory recall.
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