Emotionally charged autobiographical memories across the life span: The recall of happy, sad, traumatic and involuntary memories.
Abstract
A sample of 1,241 respondents between 20 and 93 years old were asked their age in their happiest, saddest, most traumatic, most important memory, and most recent involuntary memory. For older respondents, there was a clear bump in the 20s for the most important and happiest memories. In contrast, saddest and most traumatic memories showed a monotonically decreasing retention function. Happy involuntary memories were over twice as common as unhappy ones, and only happy involuntary memories showed a bump in the 20s. Life scripts favoring positive events in young adulthood can account for the findings. Standard accounts of the bump need to be modified, for example, by repression or reduced rehearsal of negative events due to life change or social censure.
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Not all involuntary memories are pathological.
“Clearly, not all involuntary memories are pathological [38]—involuntarily recall can be useful at times”
From Multiple memory systems, multiple time points: How science can inform treatment to control the expression of unwanted emotional memories (2018) · cites this paper as [38]
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- Authors
- Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 2002
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 636-652
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W4248252144
- Cited by
- 494
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 15.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (AG16340, R01AG016340)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- autobiographical memory, emotional arousal, traumatic memory, involuntary memory, memory retrieval, lifespan development, aging
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Emotions, Female, Happiness, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Self Concept
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