The Structure of Autobiographical Memory

Abstract

This chapter explains some of the major findings to emerge from investigations of the breakdown of autobiographical memory in neuropsychological and psychopathological disorders. It summarizes the central findings in the study of autobiographical memory and consider areas in which future developments are likely to occur. Autobiographical memory, then, involves issues relating to the self, personally relevant goals, and, ultimately, personal meanings. Themes and chronology can be used to create new knowledge structures or serve to bind together relatively permanent structures. The autobiographical knowledge base is sampled by a complex retrieval process and it is proposed that “memories” are temporary structures constructed and briefly retained in working memory. The reminiscence bump most likely reflects a critical period in the development of the individual; the emergence of a stable and enduring self concept. The psychoanalytic tradition, then, constitutes a rich source of theory and data that bears upon the concept of “themes”.