Remembering Our Darkest Moments: Reminiscence Bumps for Highly Negative Life Events

Prior research has shown that the lifetime age distribution of adults' personal memories peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood, and that this reminiscence bump is apparent primarily for positive rather than negative events. Inspired by sociological research on the crime-age curve, four new studies tested the idea that adults' negative memories of moral transgressions and behavioral missteps also would show a reminiscence bump. A secondary goal was to determine if the ages and content of actual memories recounted by older adults aligned closely with people's expectations for memories provided by an imaginary "typical" older adult. In Study 1, college students were asked to estimate the ages at which people are most likely to have committed crimes and minor moral transgressions; estimated ages peaked sharply during adolescence and early adulthood. Participants also listed emotions that they thought would accompany these misdeeds. In Study 2, college students were asked to describe memories that they expected a typical older adult to recall in response to distinctive emotion cues, including the negative emotions identified in Study 1. Study 3 was a replication of Study 2 using middle-aged participants. In Study 4, older adults provided their own personal memories in response to the emotion cues used in Study 2 and Study 3. The studies identified, for the first time, prominent reminiscence bumps for both expected and actual memories cued by negative emotions. Implications for new research on autobiographical memory functions and age-related memory declines are discussed. Public Significance Statement This research demonstrates, for the first time, that older adults' memories of highly negative personal events, including minor crimes and moral transgressions, are overrepresented in adolescence and early adulthood. These memories are often accompanied by feelings of shame and embarrassment. The memories reflect culturally shared themes of adolescent turmoil and may provide directives for future behavior.