Abstract
Words were used to cue autobiographical memories from 20- and 70-year-old subjects. Both groups showed a decrease in memories from the childhood years and a power-function retention function for their most recent 10 years. Older subjects also had an increase in the number of memories from the ages 10 to 30. These results held for individual subjects as well as grouped data and held when either 124 or 921 memories were cued. Reaction times to produce memories were constant across decades except for childhood where they were longer.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, J. R., &Schooler, L. J. (1991). Reflections of the environment in memory.Psychological Science,2, 396–408.
Benson, K. A., Jarvi, S. D., Arai, Y., Thielbar, P. R. S., Frye, K. J., &McDonald, B. L. G. (1992). Socio-historical context and autobiographical memories: Variations in the reminiscence phenomenon. In M. A. Conway, D. C. Rubin, H. Spinnler, & W. Wagenaar (Eds.),Theoretical perspectives on autobiographical memory (pp. 313–322). Dordrecht: Klüwer.
Butters, N., &Cermak, L. S. (1986). A case study of forgetting of autobiographical knowledge: Implications for the study of retrograde amnesia. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.),Autobiographical memory (pp. 253–272). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cerella, J. (1985). Information processing rates in the elderly.Psychological Bulletin,98, 67–83.
Cohen, G., &Faulkner, D. (1988). Life span changes in autobiographical memory. In M. M. Gruenberg, P. E. Morris, & R. N. Sykes (Eds.),Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues. Vol. 1. Memory in everyday life (pp. 277–282). New York: Wiley.
Conway, M. A. (1990).Autobiographical memory: An introduction. Milton Keynes, U.K.: Open University Press.
Conway, M. A., &Rubin, D. C. (1993). The structure of autobiographical memory. In A. E. Collins, S. E. Gathercole, M. A. Conway, & P. E. Morris (Eds.),Theories of memory (pp. 103–137). Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Conway, M. A., Rubin, D. C., Spinnler, H., &Wagenaar, W. A. (Eds.) (1992).Theoretical perspectives on autobiographical memory. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Crovitz, H. F., &Harvey, M. T. (1979). Early childhood amnesia: A quantitative study with implications for the study of retrograde amnesia after brain injury.Cortex,15, 331–335.
Crovitz, H. F., &Schiffman, H. (1974). Frequency of episodic memories as a function of their age.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,4, 517–518.
Fitzgerald, J. M. (1988). Vivid memories and the reminiscence phenomenon: The role of a self narrative.Human Development,31, 261–273.
Fitzgerald, J. M. (1996). Intersecting meanings of reminiscence in adult development and aging. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.),Remembering our past: Studies in autobiographical memory (pp. 360–383). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fitzgerald, J. M., &Lawrence, R. (1984). Autobiographical memory across the life-span.Journal of Gerontology,39, 692–699.
Fivush, R., &Hamond, N. R. (1990). Autobiographical memory across the preschool years: Toward reconceptualizing childhood amnesia. In R. Fivush & J. A. Hudson (Eds.),Knowing and remembering in young children (pp. 223–248). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Franklin, H. C., &Holding, D. H. (1977). Personal memories at different ages.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,29, 527–532.
Freud, S. (1950). Screen memories. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.),Collected papers (Vol. 5, pp. 47–69). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1899)
Fromholt, P., Larsen, P., &Larsen, S. F. (1995). Effects of late-onset depression and recovery on autobiographical memory.Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences,50, 74–81.
Fromholt, P., &Larsen, S. F. (1991). Autobiographical memory in normal aging and primary degenerative dementia (dementia of the Alzheimer type).Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences,46, 85–91.
Fromholt, P., &Larsen, S. F. (1992). Autobiographical memory and life-history narratives in aging and dementia (Alzheimer type). In M. A. Conway, D. C. Rubin, H. Spinnler, & W. Wagenaar (Eds.),Theoretical perspectives on autobiographical memory (pp. 413–426). Dordrecht: Klüwer.
Galton, F. (1879). Psychometric experiments.Brain,2, 149–162.
Giambra, L. M., &Arenberg, D. (1993). Adult age differences in forgetting sentences.Psychology & Aging,8, 451–462.
Holding, D. H., Noonan, T. K., Pfau, H. D., &Holding, C. S. (1986). Date attribution, age, and the distribution of lifetime memories.Journal of Gerontology,41, 481–485.
Howes, J. L., &Katz, A. N. (1992). Remote memory: Recalling autobiographical and public events across the lifespan.Canadian Journal of Psychology,46, 92–116.
Hyland, D. T., &Ackerman, A. M. (1988). Reminiscence and autobiographical memory in the study of the personal past.Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences,43, 35–39.
Nelson, K. (1993). The psychological and social origins of autobiographical memory.Psychological Science,4, 7–14.
Paivio, A., Yuille, J. C., &Madigan, S. A. (1968). Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns.Journal of Experimental Psychology,76(1, Pt. 2), 1–25.
Rabbitt, P., &Winthorpe, C. (1988). What do old people remember? The Galton paradigm reconsidered. In M. M. Gruenberg, P. E. Morris, & R. N. Sykes (Eds.),Practical aspects of memory: Current research and issues. Vol. 1. Memory in everyday life (pp. 301–307). New York: Wiley.
Ribot, T. (1882).Diseases of memory: An essay in the positive psychology (W. H. Smith, Trans.). New York: D. Appleton.
Robinson, J. A. (1976). Sampling autobiographical memory.Cognitive Psychology,8, 578–595.
Rubin, D. C. (1980). 51 properties of 125 words: A unit analysis of verbal behavior.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,19, 736–755.
Rubin, D. C. (1982). On the retention function for autobiographical memory.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,21, 21–38.
Rubin, D. C. (Ed.) (1986).Autobiographical memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rubin, D. C. (Ed.) (1996).Remembering our past: Studies in autobiographical memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rubin, D. C., Groth, L., &Goldsmith, D. (1984). Olfactory cuing of autobiographical memory.American Journal of Psychology,97, 493–507.
Rubin, D. C., &Wenzel, A. E. (1996). One hundred years of forgetting: A quantitative description of retention.Psychological Review,103, 734–760.
Rubin, D. C., Wetzler, S. E., &Nebes, R. D. (1986). Autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.),Autobiographical memory (pp. 202–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Salthouse, T. A. (1991).Theoretical perspectives on cognitive aging. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Salthouse, T. A. (1994). Aging associations: Influence of speed on adult age differences in associative learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 1486–1503.
Squire, L. R. (1987).Memory and brain. New York: Oxford University Press.
Webster, J. D., &Cappeliez, P. (1993). Reminiscence and autobiographical memory: Complementary contexts for cognitive aging research.Developmental Review,13, 54–91.
Wetzler, S. E., &Sweeney, J. A. (1986). Childhood amnesia: An empirical demonstration. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.),Autobiographical memory (pp. 202–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wickelgren, W. A. (1975). Age and storage dynamics in continuous recognition memory.Developmental Psychology,11, 165–169.
Winograd, E., &Killinger, W. A., Jr. (1983). Relating age at encoding in early childhood to adult recall: Development of flashbulb memories.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,112, 413–422.
Wixted, J. T., &Ebbesen, E. B. (1991). On the form of forgetting.Psychological Science,2, 409–415.
Zola-Morgan, S., Cohen, N. J., &Squire, L. R. (1983). Recall of remote episodic memory in amnesia.Neuropsychologia,21, 487–500.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Support for this study was provided by NIA Grant AG04278 and the Duke University Arts and Science Research Council.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rubin, D.C., Schulkind, M.D. The distribution of autobiographical memories across the lifespan. Memory & Cognition 25, 859–866 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211330
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211330