Nonepisodic Autobiographical Memory Details Reflect Attempts to Tell a Good Story

A persistent finding in the autobiographical memory (AM) literature is that older adults report more nonepisodic (or generalized/semantic) information than young adults. Since studies are usually focused on memory for episodic (or specific) autobiographical events, the reason for the age difference in nonepisodic AM remains understudied. This experiment investigated whether the higher rate of nonepisodic AM in older adults reflects (a) a difference incommunicative preferences or (b) cognitive decline, by way of either an inhibition deficit or as a means of compensating for a deficit in episodic AM. A sample of 54 young (N = 28, age range = 18-46) and older (N = 26, age range = 62-86) participants retrieved the same AM twice, under two different sets of instructions: to tell a good story for their autobiography, or to provide a detailed police witness statement. Both groups reported more general details when they were aiming to tell a good story. In addition, older adults also reported fewer specific details when the aim was to tell a good story. In a separate ranking task, young and older adults differed in their perceptions of what makes a good story; young adults ranked "detail," "grammar," and "full descriptions" more highly than older adults, whereas older ranked "linking ideas" and "explaining not just describing" more highly than young adults. The results suggest that age-related differences in nonepisodic AM might be explained by communicative preferences rather than cognitive decline. Public Significance Statement This study found that both young and older adults described their personal memories differently depending on the aim of their communication. Older adults were found to value a less detailed and more explanatory style of storytelling than young adults. The results suggest that some of the features of older adults' narratives that have previously been assumed to reflect cognitive decline may instead reflect the intention to tell a good story, highlighting the inherently social nature of autobiographical memory retrieval.