The Interpersonal Focus and Specificity of Autobiographical Memories: Theoretical Relevance and Methodological Considerations

Cognitive aging is today perhaps one of the most important and popular domains of aging research, and autobiographical memory is a fruitful and relevant area of study: Older adults have a long personal past that is full of meaningful autobiographical memories embedded in the self-memory system. According to the self-memory system model of autobiographical memory, memories are reconstructed during retrieval in line with the current goals and characteristics of the rememberer. Thus, the socioemotional and cognitive qualities of the individual, which tend to change with age, have an impact on how the individual recalls their memories. This “how” could be studied by examining a diverse range of memory qualities. However, this special section focuses on two qualities that are highly relevant for aging adults: interpersonal focus and specificity. Specificity is another key memory quality that declines with aging: Cognitive aging influences the episodic component of autobiographical memory, leaving the semantic component relatively intact. In terms of methodology, two issues need to be emphasized for future research: multiple measurement units per participant and the coding of these units. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)