Autobiographical memory

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with [[::Episodic memory|Episodic memory]]. (Discuss)

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Cognitive Psychology: Attention · Decision making · Learning · Judgement · Memory · Motivation · Perception · Reasoning · Thinking  - Cognitive processes Cognition - Outline Index

---

Autobiographic memory is a major research area within cognitive science which is itself a movement in psychology. An autobiographical memory is a personal representation of general or specific events and personal facts.

Types

• Specific Events

• When one first stepped foot in the ocean. On a family trip to California.

• General Events

• What it is like stepping into the ocean for oneself generally. This is a memory of what a personal event is generally like. One might have based it on the memories of having stepped in the ocean, many times during the years one lived in California.

• Personal Facts

• "Who was the Prime Minister of Canada when I was born?"

• Flash Bulb Memories

• Flash Bulb memories are critical Autobiographical Memories about a major event. Some flash bulb memories are shared within a social group and today, much of humanity.

"Where were you on 9/11?"

"The assassination of John Kennedy?"

"The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.?"

"The Challenger explosion?"

"The verdict in the OJ Simpson trial?"

Key Texts – Books

• Hermans, D Raes, F Philippot, P Kremers,I(2006)(eds) Autobiographical Memory Specificity and Psychopathology. A Special Issue of Cognition and Emotion. ISBN 184169987X

Key Texts – Papers

• Singer, J A & Bluck, S (2001). Autobiographical Memory.Review of General Psychology.Volume 5, #2, June. Special Issue

Additional material - Papers

• Klein, S., German, T., Cosmides, L. & Gabriel, R. (2004). A theory of autobiographical memory: Necessary components and disorders resulting from their loss. Social Cognition, 22(5), 460-490. Full text