What is autobiographical memory?

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is ( a ) to describe the forms of autobiographical memory and contrast them with other forms of memory; ( b ) to give a theoretical account of autobiographical memory in terms of the self; (c) to argue for the importance of phenomenal reports in the study of autobiographical memory; ( d ) to examine some of the experimental findings on autobiographical memory in the context of this analysis; ( e ) to give a detailed account of personal memory, one of the important forms of autobiographical memory; and ( f ) to outline a partially reconstructive view of personal memory. The problem The study of autobiographical memory is one of the least well-developed areas in the study of human memory; there is considerable divergence both in what is being investigated and in the terminology used to describe what is being investigated. There is still much work to be done in describing and classifying the basic phenomena in the area. In order to gain an immediate impression of the complexities involved in studying this topic, I want to examine a concrete example. Currently the most popular technique for studying autobiographical memory is a method developed by Sir Francis Galton (1879 a , 1879 b ) in which the subject is presented with a word and asked to find a memory related to that word. This simple task nicely reveals one of the major problems that will be addressed in this chapter – the multiple forms of autobiographical and non-autobiographical memory.