Autobiographical memories: Their relation to images, definitions, and word recognition

Conducted 3 experiments with 168 college students to elucidate (1) empirical relations between generating autobiographical memories in response to words and subsequent recognition memory for those words, (2) the theoretical distinction between semantic and episodic memory, and (3) those distinctions between autobiographical images and other types of images. The basic paradigm required that for each word, Ss provide either a life episode, a specific image, or a dictionary definition. These instructional sets were crossed and repeated 3 wks later prior to a recognition memory test for the words. The results show a significant increase in recognition memory following all congruent instructional sets. The same words frequently triggered different life episodes during the 2 sessions, resulting in generally poor recognition for these words. However, word recognition was high for words that generated the same life episodes across both sessions. The implications of autobiographical memories on other types of images and on episodic memory are discussed. (26 ref)