Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Why are we not flooded by involuntary autobiographical memories? Few cues are more effective than many

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Psychological Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent research on involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) has shown that these memories can be elicited and studied in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Employing a modified version of a vigilance task developed by Schlagman and Kvavilashvili (Mem Cogn 36:920–932, 2008) to elicit IAMs, we investigated the effects of varying the frequency of external cues on the number of IAMs reported. During the vigilance task, participants had to detect an occasional target stimulus (vertical lines) in a constant stream of non-target stimuli (horizontal lines). Participants had to interrupt the task whenever they became aware of any task-unrelated mental contents and to report them. In addition to line patterns, participants were exposed to verbal cues and their frequency was experimentally manipulated in three conditions (frequent cues vs. infrequent cues vs. infrequent cues plus arithmetic operations). We found that, compared to infrequent cues, both conditions with frequent cues and infrequent cues plus arithmetic operations decreased the number of IAMs reported. The comparison between the three experimental conditions suggests that this reduction was due to the greater cognitive load in conditions of frequent cues and infrequent cue plus arithmetic operations. Possible mechanisms involved in this effect and their implications for research on IAMs are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Due to a technical error, the data of 3 participants (2 of the infrequent cues group and 1 of the frequent cues group) were not recorded.

References

  • Baddeley, A. (1993). Working memory and conscious awareness. In A. C. Collins, S. E. Gathercole, M. A. Conway, & P. E. M. Morris (Eds.), Theories of memory (pp. 11–28). Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, C. T., Mace, J. H., & Corona, H. (2007). Cues to the gusts of memory. In J. H. Mace (Ed.), Involuntary memory (pp. 113–126). Malden: Blackwell Publishing. doi:10.1002/9780470774069.ch6.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamini, Y., Krieger, A. M., & Yekutieli, D. (2006). Adaptive linear step-up false discovery rate controlling procedures. Biometrika, 93, 491–507. doi:10.1093/biomet/93.3.491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D. (1996). Involuntary autobiographical memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 435–454. doi:10.1002/(SICI)10990720(199610)10:5%3C435:AID-ACP408%3E3.0.CO;2-L.

  • Berntsen, D. (1998). Voluntary and involuntary access to autobiographical memory. Memory, 6, 113–141. doi:10.1080/741942071.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D. (2009). Involuntary autobiographical memories. An introduction to the unbidden past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511575921.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D. (2010). The unbidden past: Involuntary autobiographical memories as a basic mode of remembering. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 138–142. doi:10.1177/0963721410370301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D., & Hall, N. M. (2004). The episodic nature of involuntary autobiographical memories. Memory & Cognition, 32, 789–803. doi:10.3758/BF03195869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D., Staugaard, S. R., & Sørensen, L. M. T. (2013). Why am I remembering this now? Predicting the occurrence of involuntary (spontaneous) episodic memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142, 426–444. doi:10.1037/a0029128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christoff, K., Gordon, A. M., Smallwood, J., Smith, R., & Schooler, J. W. (2009). Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 8719–8724. doi:10.1073/pnas.0900234106.

  • Conway, M. A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 53, 597–628. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2005.08.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107, 261–288.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craik, F. I. M., Govoni, R., Naveh-Benjmain, M., & Anderson, N. D. (1996). The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 159–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faul, F., Erdfelder, R., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, S., & Lavie, N. (2008a). Attentional capture by entirely irrelevant distractors. Visual Cognition, 16, 200–214. doi:10.1080/13506280701465049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, S., & Lavie, N. (2008b). Failures to ignore entirely irrelevant distractors: the role of load. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14, 73–83.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hasher, L., Zacks, R. T., & May, C. P. (1999). Inhibitory control, circadian arousal, and age. In D. Gopher & A. Koriat (Eds.), Attention and performance XVII (pp. 653–675). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healey, M. K., Cambell, K. L., Hasher, L., & Ossher, L. (2010). Direct evidence for the role of inhibition in resolving interference in memory. Psychological Science, 21, 1464–1470.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Healey, M. K., Hasher, L., & Cambell, K. L. (2013). The role of suppression in resolving interference: evidence for an age-related deficit. Psychology and Aging, 28, 721–728.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. M., Marsh, J. E., & Hughes, R. W. (2012). Retrieval from memory: vulnerable or inviolable? Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 38, 905–922.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kompus, K. (2011). Default mode networks gates the retrieval of task-irrelevant incidental memories. Neuroscience Letters, 487, 318–321. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.047.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kvavilashvili, L., & Mandler, G. (2004). Out of one’s mind: a study of involuntary semantic memories. Cognitive Psychology, 48, 47–94. doi:10.1016/S0010-0285(03)00115-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mace, J. H. (2004). Involuntary autobiographical memories are highly dependent on abstract cuing: the Proustian view is incorrect. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 893–899. doi:10.1002/acp.1020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mace, J. H. (2007). Involuntary memory. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. doi:10.1002/9780470774069.fmatter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mandler, G. (1994). Hypermnesia, incubation, and mind-popping: on remembering without really trying. In C. Umilta & M. Moscovitch (Eds.), Attention and performance. Conscious and unconscious information processing (pp. 3–33). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzoni, G., Vannucci, M., & Batool, I. (2014). Manipulating cues in involuntary autobiographical memory: verbal cues are more effective than pictorial cues. Memory and Cognition, 42, 1076–1085. doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0420-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McKiernan, K. A., D’Angelo, B. R., Kaufman, J. N., & Binder, J. R. (2006). Interrupting the “stream of consciousness”: an fMRI investigation. Neuroimage, 29, 1185–1191. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.09.030.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98, 676–682. doi:10.1073/pnas.98.2.676.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, D. C. (1995). Memory in oral traditions. The cognitive psychology of epic, ballads, and counting-out rhymes. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlagman, S., & Kvavilashvili, L. (2008). Involuntary autobiographical memories in and outside the laboratory: how different are they from voluntary autobiographical memories? Memory & Cognition, 36, 920–932. doi:10.3758/MC.36.5.920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schooler, J. W., Smallwood, J., Christoff, K., Handy, T. C., Reichle, E. D., & Sayette, M. A. (2011). Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind. Trends in Cognitive Science, 15, 319–326. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.05.006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, J. L. (1966). Daydreaming. An introduction to the experimental study of inner experience. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, J. L. (1975). The inner world of daydreaming. New York: Harper and Row Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unsworth, N., Brewer, G. A., & Spillers, G. J. (2013). Working memory capacity and retrieval from long-term memory: the role of controlled search. Memory & Cognition, 41, 242–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vannucci, M., Batool, I., Pelagatti, C., & Mazzoni, G. (2014). Modifying the frequency and characteristics of involuntary autobiographical memories. PLoS One, 9, e89582. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089582.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Carlo Chiorri for helpful discussions and suggestions on the revision of the paper. We also would like to thank the reviewers for their comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Psychology, Department of NEUROFARBA, University of Florence, Via San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135, Florence, Italy

    Manila Vannucci, Claudia Pelagatti & Claudia Rossi Paccani

  2. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Maciej Hanczakowski

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Giuliana Mazzoni

Authors
  1. Manila Vannucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Claudia Pelagatti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Maciej Hanczakowski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Giuliana Mazzoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Claudia Rossi Paccani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manila Vannucci.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vannucci, M., Pelagatti, C., Hanczakowski, M. et al. Why are we not flooded by involuntary autobiographical memories? Few cues are more effective than many. Psychological Research 79, 1077–1085 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-014-0632-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-014-0632-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation