TY  - JOUR
TI  - Comparison of Earliest and Later Autobiographical Memories in Young and Middle-Aged Adults
AB  - The current study examined earliest memories of young and middle-aged adultsin comparison to a recent autobiographical memory and a free-report one fromany life phase. These three types of memories were compared in terms of theirmemory characteristics such as vividness, emotionality, importance, confidence,and rehearsal frequency. A total of 319 young (18-30 years) and 112 middle-aged(40-65 years) adults completed the online survey. Results showed that earliestmemories were rated either similar to or lower than later memories in theirmemory characteristics. More specifically, they received lower ratings than freereport memories in all memory characteristics whereas they did not significantlydiffer from recent memories only in importance and emotionality. In addition,free-report memories were highest in emotionality, importance and rehearsalfrequency whereas recent memories were highest in vividness and confidenceratings. Compared to young adults, middle-aged adults provided higher ratingsfor all memory characteristics in general, and they further recalled earliestmemories from an older age. Finally, the order of reporting the three types ofmemories (earliest memory first versus recent memory first) was examinedwith respect to its potential influence on memory characteristics and dating ofthe recalled memories. Results displayed no significant effect of the reportingorder on memory characteristics. Dating of the earliest and free-report memories,however, was significantly affected by the reporting order. The mean age forearliest memories was higher when it was retrieved following the recent memorycompared to the reporting order in which earliest memories are retrieved andreported first. Overall, results indicated that earliest memories are not particularlyspecial compared to later memories (e.g., free-report memories) in terms of theirmemory characteristics, and they are vulnerable to experimental manipulationsuch as changing the reporting order just like other types of autobiographicalmemories.
AU  - Gülgöz, Sami
AU  - Öner, Sezin
AU  - DEMİRAY, Burcu
AU  - Ece, Berivan
DO  - 10.26650/SP2018-0037
PY  - 2019
JO  - Psikoloji çalışmaları (Online)
VL  - 39
IS  - 1
SN  - 2602-2982
SP  - 45
EP  - 78
DB  - TRDizin
UR  - http://search/yayin/detay/357853
ER  -