11. Autobiographical memory

Question 1

Autobiographical memory

Answer 1

Memory across the lifespan for both specific

events and self-related information.

Question 2

Reminiscence bump

Answer 2

A tendency in participants over 40 to show a high rate of recollecting personal experiences from their late teens and early twenties.

Question 3

Life narrative

Answer 3

A coherent and integrated account of one’s life that is claimed to form the basis of autobiographical memory.

Question 4

Autobiographical knowledge base

Answer 4

Facts about ourselves and our past that form the basis for autobiographical memory.

Question 5

Working self

Answer 5

A concept proposed by Conway to account for the way in which autobiographical knowledge is accumulated and used.

Question 6

Autonoetic consciousness

Answer 6

A term proposed by Tulving for self-awareness, allowing the rememberer to reflect on the contents of episodic memory.

Question 7

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 7

Emotional disorder whereby a dramatic and stressful event such as rape results in persistent anxiety, often accompanied by vivid flashback memories of the event.

Question 8

Reappearance hypothesis

Answer 8

The view that under certain circumstances, such as flashbulb memory and PTSD, memories can be created that later reappear in exactly the same form.