Source monitoring in autobiographical recall: a complementary approach to reminiscence bump accounts

Abstract

The distribution of autobiographical memories constitutes one of the robustfindings in memory research. The present study, with the aim of interpreting thedistribution of autobiographical memories as a function of frontal function and source monitoring performance, is conducted with participants between 20 and 89years of age. The data from autobiographical recall, as assessed by the cue-wordparadigm, source monitoring performance, and frontal function as assessed by twodifferent tests, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Stroop Test, was analyzed to investigate the hypothesis that impaired frontal function and source monitoring inold age might be two factors contributing to the consistently observed bump in thedistribution of autobiographical memories. Although the findings provided supportfor hypotheses regarding the individual components of the study, the mainhypothesis received only partial support. The findings are discussed in relation with the wider arena of memory research as well as with the theoretical andmethodological implications that they present for future research.