Factors affecting retrieval order of autobiographical memories

Abstract

The retrieval mechanism that governs the recall of both episodic and autobiographical memories has been studied for more than a century. There are still many aspects of it that are waiting to be explored. Some phenomena like reminiscence bump and serial position effect have been widely investigated in terms of temporal features of retrieval. However, especially order effects of retrieval in autobiographical memory literature had not caught much attention. In the current study, we want to focus on the order of retrieval of autobiographical memories. Using a technique that is first used in our previous studies we asked participants to remember their memories about “Covid-19 quarantine” and “Entrance to university”. In line with our hypothesis, we found that the participants remembered their memories from past to present in a chronological continuum. Temporal contiguity and forward asymmetry were observed as well. There was no correlation between importance and retrieval in our first study, but a positive trend observed in the second. No effect of valence, centrality and distinctiveness of events on retrieval order could be found.