Autobiographical memory

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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 – 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