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Most autobiographical memories are based on real-life experiences, but memories of fiction have many similarities to real-life autobiographical memories. However, the phenomenological nature of this similarity, the potential differences between media types, and the role of individual differences need further investigation. Based on previous findings, we expected differences between media types on emotional intensity, sensory vividness, and confidence about the recall. To provide insight into these issues, we collected one real-life autobiographical memory and one memory of fiction (book, film, or video game) from 291 participants. We asked them to rate their memories phenomenologically. The participants also provided information regarding their motivations for engaging with fictional stories. Our results show phenomenological differences in several dimensions between media types and differences in the similarity of media types to real-life memories. While absorption seems to be a good predictor for immersion, escapism tendency is a motivation to engage with fiction frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier research focused on three functions of recollecting the past self, social, and directive functions, but few studies examined the characteristics of events serving these functions. Moreover, research has neglected the function of prediction, which refers to predicting the future by recollecting the past. The current study distinguished the predictive function from the directive function and aimed to characterize memories and future events serving different functions by employing function prompts as cues. In addition, the frequency of using function‐cued memories for the other functions was measured. Results showed that predictive and directive function ratings of the predictive function cued events were significantly different. However, directive events served the predictive function as frequently as the directive function, indicating that the predictive function is a prerequisite for future planning conceptualized under the directive function. The results are indicative of a distinct predictive function and considerable overlap between functions of memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autobiographical events can be open or closed according to the accompanying feeling of unresolved/resolution. Present study focuses on open events having potentiality to be closed and future resolution events. We asked 74 participants two past events in counterbalanced order: open with closure potential and closed. After each event, they also reported future resolution event and similar closed future event. We compared the phenomenology and spontaneous thinking characteristics. In addition to replicating findings for open and closed memories, results depicted that future resolution events were overall more positive with more positive mood impact upon spontaneously thought than open events, although their spontaneous thinking frequency was similar. As expected, these events were similar in emotional intensity during reporting and when spontaneously thought, but unexpectedly similar in reliving/pre‐living feelings. We discuss our results in threshold hypothesis context with future thinking, specifically how it might be different for spontaneous future cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open autobiographical memories are events without closure. The current study explored the influence of potential closure in the future. We compared the phenomenology and involuntary recall for events that were either closed, open with a possibility of closure, or open without such a possibility. Participants (N = 87) recalled these events in random order and answered phenomenology questions. We expected open events without closure possibility to be highest in negativity, emotional intensity, regret and involuntary recall frequency, followed by potentially open events and closed events. We found that emotional intensity at recall, negativity and involuntary recall frequency were higher for open than closed events. Open events without closure possibility were the highest in regret and evoked more negative affect upon involuntary recall than open events with closure possibility. We discussed our findings in relation to research on autobiographical memory and involuntary remembering, along with intrusion and possible clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open autobiographical memories are personal life experiences on which an individual does not have closure. It is unknown whether emotion regulation strategies through recalling positive memories are active after recalling open memories. The current study aims to explore the presence of emotion regulation for open memories while testing for the interference of depressive tendencies. The participants were asked to remember an open memory and answer questions on phenomenological features of this event. Later, they recalled a memory without any restrictions and answered similar phenomenological questions. The results showed that the subsequent memories were significantly more closed, more positive, and less intense during retrieval than open memories. Additionally, open memories were reported as involuntarily rehearsed more frequently than the subsequent memories. Depressive tendencies were unrelated to emotion regulation after open memory recall. This study provides insight into the emotion regulation strategies after remembering open memories and how depression could be related to this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed framework can benefit from integrating predictive processing into the explanation of déjà vu which corresponds to interrupted prediction. Déjà vu is also accompanied by familiarity. However, considerable ambiguity is inherent in familiarity, which necessitates elaboration of this construct. Research findings on involuntary autobiographical memories and déjà vu show discrepancies, and clustering these constructs can be counterproductive for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to investigate emotion regulation function of autobiograhical remembering within an integrative perspective. We asked participants to recall sadness, anger and happiness related events for emotion induction, then they recalled any random memory that came to their mind. In the latter remembering experience. Pre- and post-report emotionality ratings and phenomenological features of the recall were examined to test whether subsequent recall served to upregulate positive emotions. Only in sadness and anger memory groups who recalled memories with high emotional impact reported more positive emotions after subsequent remembering. Also, we found distinct mechanisms by which sadness and anger groups used for emotion regulation such that for the sadness group whereas the emotional intensity accounted for the role of upregulation, for the anger group, importance of the event predicted enhanced positivity. Findings are discussed in the context of the emotion regulation function of autobiographical remembering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common processes involved in remembering and predicting personal and public events have led researchers to study public events as a part of autobiographical memory. In the present study, we asked for past events and future predictions and examined the temporal distribution and factors that made these salient in event representations. A sample of 1577 individuals reported six most important public events since their birth and six future events that they expected. Past events mostly came from the recent past and were negative in valence. Similarly, future predictions consisted of negative events that are expected to occur in the near past. We did not find a reminiscence bump but there was a strong recency effect. Despite being inconsistent with some literature, this supports the view that remembering the past is largely influenced by the current goals and experiences. Also, in predicting what is remembered from the past and what is expected in the future, what individuals believed others would report appeared as a robust predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional closure is a feeling of subjective completeness of a past event evoking feelings of closure as opposed to openness. People might differ in need for emotional closure over past open experiences. In the current two studies, we aimed to create a valid scale to measure this need as a personality tendency. We asked participants (N = 265, N = 207, respectively) to fill out the constructed need for emotional closure scale in Turkish (Study-1) and in English (Study-2). Additionally, participants filled out the intolerance to uncertainty, ruminative responses, and need for cognitive closure scales in random order. We conducted a series of exploratory factor analyses in the Turkish version, which revealed four factors: Emotional disturbance, interpersonal discussions, bother, and regret. In Study-2, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of the English adaptation showed an adequate fit. A measurement-invariant English version was created with high internal reliability and convergent validity. We discuss these findings concerning the importance of this tendency, why it can be a helpful measurement, and possible implications for clinical psychology literature. • The need for emotional closure over past events is a personality tendency. • The need for emotional closure scale was created and validated. • The scale was closely related to intolerance to uncertainty and rumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue brings together the scholarship that contributes diverse new perspectives on childhood amnesia - the scarcity of memories for very early life events. The topics of the studies reported in the special issue range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother-child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors. This collective body of work will facilitate discussion and deepen our understanding of the dynamics that influence the accessibility, content, accuracy, and phenomenological qualities of memories from early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional deviation has been considered an essential factor in emotion regulation, in that, attempts to compensate for the deviation is reflected on cognitive processes. In the present study, we focused on autobiographical remembering and tested the functional role of memory on emotion regulation. We specifically examined the congruence effect in individuals' subsequent memory reports after recalling emotional events. Individuals were randomly assigned to three groups to report either sadness or anger evoking events or emotionally unspecified events that they experienced in the last five years. Results supported mood-incongruence, but only for the emotional memory groups. Despite highly negative memories reported in the initial recall, individuals in anger-and sad-memory groups revealed an up-regulation trend in subsequent recall. Furthermore, sadness and anger induction affected phenomenological features of the subsequently reported memory. Overall, our findings supported for the emotion regulation function of remembering that serves counterregulation of the negative emotion. We discuss potential mechanisms in the light of explanations by a functional approach to autobiographical memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies were conducted to explore the effect of the most frequent life events on the reminiscence bump. The first study examined the life scripts and autobiographical memories of 44 adults [ Mage = 62.8, standard deviation (SD) = 2.8] by removing the most frequent 10 life events. The regular reminiscence bump disappeared in the distribution of both event types. The second study explored whether results of the first study would be extended to autobiographical memories evoked by different methods. Cue word and important memories reported by 64 adults ( Mage = 66.6, SD = 2.8) were examined. Important memories had later bump than cue word memories, but removing the top 10 life events affected the bumps of both memory types with a stronger impact on important memories. Different retrieval strategies activated by these two methods may lead to different temporal peaks, which further influence the sensitivity of distributions to the most frequent life event categories.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, we proposed a latent constructs model to characterise the qualitative aspects of autobiographical remembering and investigated the structural relations in the model that may vary across individuals. Primarily, we focused on the memories of romantic relationships and argued that attachment anxiety and avoidance would be reflected in the ways that individuals encode, rehearse, or remember autobiographical memories in close relationships. Participants reported two positive and two negative relationship-specific memories and rated the characteristics for each memory. As predicted, the basic memory model yielded appropriate fit, indicating that event characteristics (EC) predicted the frequency of rehearsal (RC) and phenomenology at retrieval (PC). When attachment variables were integrated, the model showed that rehearsal mediated the link between anxiety and PC, especially for negative memories. On the other hand, for avoidance EC was the key factor mediating the link between avoidance and RC, as well as PC. Findings were discussed with respect to autobiographical memory functions emphasising a systematically, integrated framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to explore the impact of suppressing typical life events on the reminiscence bump in life script and autobiographical memory distributions. With an instruction to exclude typical life events, half of 142 participants older than 45 years (Mage = 51.82, SD = 4.80) reported expected life events and the other half reported autobiographical memories. Age at event, importance, emotional valence, and intensity ratings were reported for each event. The reminiscence bump disappeared in autobiographical memory distribution. In life script distribution, it disappeared for the intervals between 21 and 30 years, whereas it reduced for age intervals 16-20 and 31-35 years. However, these intervals were not significantly different from the preceding and following ones regarding the number of reported events. Characteristics of typical life events and their corresponding lifetime period had a role in the emergence of the reminiscence bump. Results are discussed in terms of multiple accounts of the bump. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reminiscence bump is a robust finding demonstrated mostly with the cue-word method in Western cultures. The first aim of the study was to replicate the reminiscence bump using a life history timeline method and to extend reminiscence bump research to a Turkish sample. The second aim was to empirically examine the recently proposed life story account (Gluck & Bluck, 2007) for the reminiscence bump. The sample consisted of 40 women and 32 men aged 52 to 66 years. Participants' lives were divided into 5-year intervals and they verbally reported as many memories as possible in a standard timeframe from each interval (in random order) and provided ratings of several memory characteristics. As expected, the lifespan distribution of the resulting 6373 memories demonstrated a reminiscence bump. In support of the life story account, bump memories were found to be more novel, more important for identity development, more distinct, and more likely to involve developmental transitions than memories from other age periods. Findings are discussed in terms of the life story account, which synthesises lifespan developmental theory and life story theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has examined the effects of source-schema-consistency, schematic distinctiveness and encoding time of schematic information on source memory of younger and older adults. Participants were administered a source memory test, in which two sources presented statements that were congruent with, incongruent with or irrelevant to sources' professions. Professions of sources were schematically similar or distinct, and they were revealed before or after the presentation of items. The results yielded that revelation of profession information before presentation of items enhanced source memory for incongruent items. Aging was associated with a general decrease in source monitoring processes. Participants who were assigned to similar-source condition and had their schemas activated before learning phase had higher source monitoring scores. Results are discussed in relation to source monitoring framework and aging of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies reported that twins may dispute ownership of autobiographical experiences. One observation made in both studies was that the events that were disputed by the twins were rather ordinary events. In the present study, we tested the idea that the disputed memories are such ordinary and mundane events. A brief narrative description of disputed and nondisputed events that were provided by participants in the Ikier, Tekcan, Gülgöz, and Küntay (2003) study was given to an independent sample of participants who were asked to rate (a) the ordinariness of the event, given the age and sex of the protagonist of the event and (b) the likelihood that the event would have happened to them. Results showed that disputed memories were rated as more mundane than nondisputed personal memories. Moreover, a substantial portion of the disputed memories from the Ikier et al. study were for events that our subjects reported to have also experienced. These findings are discussed in the context of cognitive processes contributing to formation of false memories. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inference-making is a critical process in understanding and processing information daily. People synthesize inputs into a whole and retain the whole (gist) instead of specific parts (verbatim). False recognition of inferred information offers evidence for it. We conducted two studies to examine whether memory errors occurred similarly when bilinguals were tested separately and concurrently on two languages, and whether bilinguals remembered the language in which the information was received (language tag).We recruited Turkish native speakers who spoke English as a second language. After inducing spatial inferences about objects, we tested participants on configuration, sentence recognition, and language recognition in Turkish, English, and dual-language conditions. We measured their second language proficiency and executive functioning with standardized assessments.We performed within-subjects analyses of covariance to investigate the within-language differences in sentence recognition and the role of individual cognitive differences (N = 34 in Experiment 1, N = 48 in Experiment 2).Experiment 1 showed that inferences were falsely recognized in L1 (Turkish) and L2 (English) conditions, but not in the dual-language. We found no effect of individual cognitive differences. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1 and found that false recognition of inferred sentences was predicted more by lower executive functions (EF) scores and higher second language proficiency. In both experiments, participants accurately identified the language tag. Higher EF scores predicted higher tag accuracy. We conclude that inferring information in the second language induces memory errors, and inferences are tagged with the language of encoding.We used an ecologically valid sentence-level paradigm to test inferences and their connection to bilingual false memories in the second language and dual-language contexts. We explored the individual differences in language and cognitive abilities.Bilingual information processing is influenced significantly by exposure to stimuli, task difficulty, the language context, and language proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tests a computational method designed by W. Kintsch for improving instructional text. Effects of repairing inference calls on recall and cognitive structures; Function of a theoretical model like Kintsch to help understand, predict and control the phenomena of text processing; Results showing that the principled version produced a mental representation closer to the one intended by the author and specified by subject-matter experts.

In this study, we explored how the COVID‐19 pandemic affected the functions of autobiographical memory and future projection over time. Between May and June 2020, we asked people (N = 286) to recall or imagine personal events from four time periods: past before the pandemic, past during the pandemic, future during the pandemic, and future after the pandemic ends. Participants rated self, social, directive, predictive, and emotion regulation functions, and the phenomenological characteristics of these events. We found that ratings for all functions decreased for the pandemic and increased for the future. Overall, this study revealed that the COVID‐19 pandemic created a breaking point, with memories being less functional at the beginning of the pandemic compared to the pre‐pandemic times and the future. However, imagined events that would occur after the pandemic ended were rated most functional, suggesting that people were still optimistic about a pandemic‐free future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language-dependent recall refers to the language-specific retrieval of memories in which the retrieval success depends on the match between the languages of encoding and retrieval. The present study investigated language-dependent recall in terms of memory accuracy, false memory, and episodic memory characteristics in the free recall of fictional stories. We also asked how language-dependent memories were influenced by language proficiency and visual imagery. One hundred and thirty-seven native Turkish (L1) speakers who were second-language learners of English (L2) were divided into four groups in which they read fictional stories and then recalled them: (1) Turkish reading–Turkish recall, (2) English reading–English recall, (3) English reading–Turkish recall, (4) Turkish reading–English recall. Regardless of the match between L1 or L2, accuracy was higher when participants read and recalled the stories in the same language than when they did it in different languages, showing the language-dependent recall effect. Notably, the effect of match or mismatch between encoding and retrieval languages on accuracy did not depend on L2 proficiency and visual imagery. In addition, false memories were salient, particularly for participants who read the stories in L2 but retrieved them in L1. Overall, our findings suggest that accuracy-oriented memory research provides a comprehensive investigation of language-dependent recall, addressing the links of language-dependent memories with accuracy, false memory, and episodic memory characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consistency of earliest memories in content, dating, and memory qualities was investigated. A total of 84 (27 males; Mage = 24.93, SD = 1.36) adults reported earliest memories, estimated ages, and rated their recollections on memory qualities with a two-year time lag. At Time 2, their original reports at Time 1 were presented and they were asked to report whether the earliest memories they recalled at Time 2 were the same. Fifty-six per cent of the participants reported the same earliest memories and those remembering the same events had earlier memories than those remembering different ones. Although no significant differences were observed in estimated ages on the basis of mean ages, a predating bias of later memories and a tendency to postdate earlier memories were observed on the basis of a 48-month cut-off point. Thus, how the data is analysed is critical in detecting dating biases or errors affecting conclusions and interpretations about the dating consistency of earliest memories. Finally, memory qualities of earliest memories displayed a high level of consistency with a two-year time lag regardless of remembering the same versus different event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested Turkish participants' (n =483) autobiographical and event memory for the events of September 11, 2001 3 days, 6 months, and 1 year after the event. The amount of autobiographical detail participants reported was very high after one year. The accuracy of event memory was moderate at 3 days, and declined sharply by 6 months. The consistency of autobiographical memory was higher than that of event memory at all time lags; however, there was no interaction between time lag and memory type. The data also provided partial support for Pezdek's (2003) conceptualization that the degree of involvement has different effects on event and autobiographical memory. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that twins may dispute ownership of autobiographical experiences. We investigated the frequency and characteristics of such disputed memories in comparison to memories with undisputed ownership. In the present study, monozygotic twins (MZ), dizygotic twins (DZ), and siblings were asked to remember disputed and non-disputed memories. They also dated each memory and provided a rating on the following variables: level of imagery, detail, rehearsal, and importance. Results showed that disputed memories were more common among MZ twins than in DZ twins and siblings. The frequencies of undisputed memories were not different among the three groups. When compared to non-disputed memories, disputed memories were more likely to come from events experienced during preschool years. We consider disputed memories as instances of false memories, at least partly influenced by social interactional processes, and event characteristics. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "The cost of changing language context: The language-dependent recall of fictional stories" which appeared in April 13, 2023 issue.

Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]