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Recall of autobiographical events
Author(s) -
White Richard T.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.2350030204
Subject(s) - recall , autobiographical memory , psychology , cognitive psychology , event (particle physics) , association (psychology) , clarity , proposition , semantics (computer science) , childhood amnesia , episodic memory , cognition , developmental psychology , childhood memory , linguistics , neuroscience , biochemistry , physics , chemistry , philosophy , quantum mechanics , computer science , psychotherapist , programming language
The clarity with which events that happened 6 years earlier can be recalled was estimated. The estimates are consistent with a gradual degradation rather than a precipitate decline of memory, and with the proposition that once an event cannot be recalled then it will remain inaccessible under similar conditions of cueing. Rare events are recalled well, suggesting that proactive interference has a strong influence on difficulty to recall. Vivid events are recalled well, also, but other dimensions such as importance of the event, its association with semantic knowledge, and the intensity of physical sensation are not related to recallability. Memory for the date of an event is poor, but for its time of day is good.