Mace - The organization and structure of autobiographical memory

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John H. Mace

David C. Rubin

Martin A. Conway, Lucy V. Justice, and Arnaud DArgembeau

Robyn Fivush and Theodore E. A. Waters

Qi Wang

Susan Bluck, Nicole Alea, and Emily L. Mroz

Heather Iriye and Peggy L. St. Jacques

Alexandra Ernst and Clare J. Rathbone

Jonathan Koppel and Dorthe Berntsen

John H. Mace and Amanda M. Clevinger

Nicole Alea

University of the West Indies at St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

Dorthe Berntsen

Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Aarhus University, Denmark

Susan Bluck

Department of Psychology, University of Florida, USA

Amanda M. Clevinger

Department of Psychology, Eastern Illinois University, USA

Martin A. Conway

Department of Psychology, City, University of London, UK

Arnaud DArgembeau

University of Lige, Belgium

Alexandra Ernst

Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition, University of Grenoble-Alpes, France

Robyn Fivush

Department of Psychology, Emory University, USA

Heather Iriye

Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Lucy V. Justice

Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Jonathan Koppel

Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, UK

John H. Mace

Department of Psychology, Eastern Illinois University, USA

Emily L. Mroz

Department of Psychology, University of Florida, USA

Clare J. Rathbone

Department of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health, Oxford Brookes University, UK

David C. Rubin

Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, USA

Peggy L. St. Jacques

Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada

Qi Wang

Department of Human Development, Cornell University, USA

Theodore E. A. Waters

New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

John H. Mace

Since ). The theme of the current volume, the organization and structure of autobiographical memory, is not only a topic of broad focus, but a fundamental question that it is pivotal to understanding the nature of autobiographical memory. Whereas it certainly can be said that such a question is important for any area of memory, it is, perhaps, particularly true for autobiographical memory, given the relative complexity of this topic. For example, questions concerning future thought, development, or function are either irrelevant in other areas (e.g., implicit memory), or they are relatively less dicey problems to solve (e.g., the question of function in semantic memory versus function in autobiographical memory).

In this introductory chapter, I sketch out some of the broad themes laid out in the individual chapters of this text. I present a very brief overview of the chapters, without any real commentary, or at least that is my impression. Readers who are intimately familiar with the topic, or those who normally like to skip overview chapters, can abandon ship now and go straight to the chapters. The chapters are written in a self-contained fashion, so one could easily move around the book without losing a particular thread or line of thought.

What is autobiographical memory? The simplest conception of autobiographical memory is to view it as synonymous with episodic memory () basic systems model. In the early chapters of this volume, each of these views is reviewed, updated, and extended.

In , Conway, Justice, and DArgembeau reprise, review, and extend the enormously popular SMS view. The model is updated with the incorporation of autobiographical future thought into the framework of the SMS. Given the central role of the self in the SMS approach, the model is well-suited to account for the burgeoning area of autobiographical future cognition, and, with this new addition, the SMS model increases its explanatory power and range.

The development of autobiographical memory is also a complex and rich question, perhaps more so than any other area of memory. Here, one must go beyond mere neural and cognitive development, as one considers how autobiographical memory develops within a sociocultural context (). Whereas cognitive psychology, in general, has not placed much emphasis on culture in the development of cognitive processes, autobiographical memory is (and should be) one exception.

In develops as individuals acquire cultural knowledge about the self and the purpose of the past.

The functional approach in the study of autobiographical memory has had considerable success (, Bluck, Alea, and Mroz review the functional perspective in the study of autobiographical memory. They take the position that form follows function, and that one needs to keep this notion in central focus when considering how autobiographical memory is organized. In advocating their view, they remind us of the pitfalls of relying on approaches to the study of autobiographical memory organization, and of remembering, that rely solely on mechanistic and reductionistic approaches. The authors review the three classic functions (directive, social, and self, Baddeley), and ask whether additional, as yet unnamed, functions are needed to properly frame the question of organization.