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Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011. 62:559–82 Key Words

First published online as a Review in Advance on episodic memory, social-cultural theory, life narrative, maternal
July 16, 2010
reminiscing style, subjective self
The Annual Review of Psychology is online at
psych.annualreviews.org Abstract
This article’s doi: Autobiographical memory is a uniquely human system that integrates
10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131702
memories of past experiences into an overarching life narrative. In this
Copyright ⃝ c 2011 by Annual Reviews. review, I extend social-cultural models of autobiographical memory
All rights reserved
development and present theory and research that demonstrates that
0066-4308/11/0110-0559$20.00 (a) autobiographical memory is a gradually developing system across
childhood and adolescence that depends on the development of a sense
of subjective self as continuous in time; (b) autobiographical memory
develops within specific social and cultural contexts that relate to in-
dividual, gendered, and cultural differences in adults’ autobiographi-
cal memories, and, more specifically, (c) mothers who reminisce with
their young children in elaborated and evaluative ways have children
who develop more detailed, coherent, and evaluative autobiographical
memories.
559
INTRODUCTION
Contents Autobiographical memory is that uniquely hu-
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 man form of memory that moves beyond re-
DEFINING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL call of experienced events to integrate perspec-
MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 tive, interpretation, and evaluation across self,
Memory Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 other, and time to create a personal history. To
Distinguishing Episodic and put it succinctly, autobiographical memory is
Autobiographical Memory. . . . . . . 562 memory of the self interacting with others in
THE SOCIAL-CULTURAL the service of both short-term and long-term
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY . . 563 goals that define our being and our purpose in
Autobiographical Memory the world (Conway et al. 2004; Fivush 1988,
is a Social-Cultural Skill . . . . . . . . . 564 2008; McAdams 1992, 2001; Pillemer 1998).
Language and Narratives Whereas previous research has not always
clearly differentiated between episodic memory

in the Construction of
Autobiographical Memory. . . . . . . 564 and autobiographical memory, in this review I
THE EMERGENCE OF argue that making this distinction allows for a
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL more complete understanding of the develop-
MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 ment of episodic and autobiographical memory
Memory in Infancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 both across species and across human develop-
The Development of Verbal Recall . 566 ment. According to Tulving’s (2002) definition,
Maternal Reminiscing Style . . . . . . . . 566 episodic memory includes two separable com-
Correlational Studies of Child ponents: the first is memory of the specific what,
Memory Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 where, and when of an experience; the second
Experimental Studies of Child involves autonoetic consciousness, the aware-
Memory Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 ness of self having experienced the event in the
Enduring Effects of Maternal past, which involves mental time travel. I argue
Reminiscing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 that these components are indeed separable and
GENDER AND CULTURE . . . . . . . . . 568 that the first comprises a form of episodic mem-
Gender and Autobiographical ory that appears to be available across species
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 and across human development and does not
Culture and Autobiographical necessitate autonoetic awareness. In contrast,
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569 autobiographical memory builds on episodic
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY representations in at least three ways. First,
AND THE SUBJECTIVE SELF . . 569 whereas episodic memory is recall of a specific
Subjective Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . 570 event that occurred in the past, autobiographi-
Linking the Past Self to cal memory further includes memory of the self
the Present Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 as the experiencer of the event, or what Tulving
Constructing a Personal Timeline . . 573 (2002) has called autonoetic consciousness. Sec-
THE FUNCTIONS OF ond, whereas episodic memories are of a series
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL of single past events, autobiographical memory
MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 links past events together into a personal history
Self-Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 that relates self through past, present, and fu-
Self in Relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 ture, essentially forming a life narrative (Haber-
Self-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 mas & Bluck 2000, McAdams 2001). Finally,
CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 autobiographical memory goes beyond the
episodic memory function of guiding current
560 Fivush
and future behavior to serve social and emo- the functions of autobiographical memory. If
tional functions, including self-definition, self- autobiographical memory is indeed a uniquely
in-relation, and self-regulation (Bluck & Alea human ability, why has it developed at all?
Autobiographical
2002, Fivush 1988, Fivush et al. 2003, Pillemer memory:
1998). self-referenced
In support of a distinction between episodic DEFINING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL memory of personal
and autobiographical memory, I describe a de- MEMORY experiences in the
service of short-term
velopmental social-cultural model of autobio-
graphical memory. The basic premise is that
Memory Systems and long-term goals
that define identity
autobiographical memory is a form of cultural In the past two decades, with the expanding and purpose
activity and as such is individually and culturally ability to study both typical and atypical brains Autonoetic
specific to the local and cultural forms of social in relation to memory behaviors, there is grow- awareness: conscious
interaction from which it is shaped. Moreover, ing consensus that memory is not a unified abil- experience of self as
autobiographical memory is a complex ability ity but rather a set of dynamic, integrated sys- recalling the past
with a long developmental history. Not only is tems (Eichenbaum & Cohen 2001, Schacter Life narrative: an
autobiographical memory late in phylogenetic et al. 2000, Squire 2004). The broad strokes of overarching narrative
that integrates specific
history, being unique to humans, but it is also how memory systems are organized are reason-
autobiographical
late in ontogenetic history. The ability to create ably well agreed upon, although, of course, the memories along a
an autobiography, a personal history of self that nuances continue to be debated. For the pur- personal timeline from
is continuous in time, with specific events expe- poses of this review, memory can be broadly past through present
rienced at particular points and linked both to conceptualized as consisting of two major sys- and into the future
each other and the present, is a complex human tems, declarative and nondeclarative memory. Narratives: canonical
skill that relies on multiple component devel- Nondeclarative memory theoretically includes linguistic forms that
specify a sequence of
opmental skills, including the development of multiple systems including procedural knowl-
actions and provide an
subjective consciousness, the developing abil- edge, such as knowledge of how to do things, explanatory and
ity to link past self to present self, and the de- skills, and actions that are well-practiced and evaluative framework
veloping ability to construct a personal time. done with little to no conscious awareness, as for understanding the
As described here, each of these is, in turn, well as most forms of conditioning and priming event
a complex cognitive achievement that occurs (Schacter et al. 2000, Squire 2004).
over substantial developmental time. Thus, the Declarative memory, in contrast, is assumed
question is not when children “achieve” au- to be explicit and available to consciousness.
tobiographical memory, but rather, how these This is the form of memory that most of us
sets of complex skills develop across age and are referring to when we talk about memory
become integrated into an emerging autobio- in everyday life. It is explicit representations
graphical memory system that continues to de- of past experiences. In 1972, Tulving made
velop and evolve across the lifespan (for related a distinction between semantic and episodic
arguments, see Nelson & Fivush 2004). declarative memory (Tulving 1972). Semantic
To frame these arguments, I first briefly memory is explicit knowledge about the world.
describe current views of human memory and Although we no longer recall when or where
where autobiographical memory fits in this we learned it, we know that Paris is the capital
larger perspective. I then turn to an explica- of France and George Washington was the
tion of social-cultural theory and the role of first president of the United States. Episodic
language and narratives in autobiographical memories, in contrast, are specific memories
memory. I use this framework in the following tied to space and time (e.g., the time I visited
sections to interpret the empirical behavioral the Eiffel Tower during my honeymoon in
research (see Bauer 2007a,b for a description Paris, or the time I saw the portrait of George
of the neurocognitive development of autobi- Washington on my senior high school trip to
ographical memory). I end with a discussion of Washington, D.C.). In this conceptualization,
www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 561

episodic memories and autobiographical mem- is (Hampton 2009). What these experiments
ories are not differentiated. Episodic memories clearly demonstrate is that animals can recall
include all memories of specific past events. specific experiences that occurred in the past
and can use these experiences to guide their
current and future behavior.
Distinguishing Episodic and Similarly, even in the first year of life, human
Autobiographical Memory infants demonstrate the ability to remember
A problem in Tulving’s (2002) definition of specific past experiences. For example, Rovee-
episodic memory is that it conflates two sep- Collier & Hayne (2000) have shown that after
arable components. One component is the idea pairing foot kicking with a much-desired mov-
that the memory is specific to what, when, and ing crib mobile, infants as young as 3 months
where, (i.e., that the memory is of a specific old will kick their feet upon seeing the mobile
event that happened at a particular time and again, even when this action is no longer tied
place in the past). The second component is that to the desired goal. Some argue that, as this is
episodic memory entails mental time travel, de- a form of conditioning, it does not require ex-
fined as a sense of subjective time, autonoetic plicit or episodic memory (Bauer 2007a). More
awareness, and a sense of self. This component compelling evidence of episodic memory in the
of episodic memory involves the awareness of first year of life comes from work by Bauer and
self as the experiencer of the event in the past colleagues (Bauer et al. 2000; for a review, see
and the rememberer of the event in the present, Bauer 2007a) that demonstrates that, at least by
which in turn implies conscious awareness of a 9-months of age, infants shown a specific series
personal past, a timeline on which the individ- of actions performed on a set of novel objects
ual can place past events in sequence, creating will reliably imitate those actions when pre-
a sense of a personal history (for discussions, sented with those objects weeks later. Although
see Nelson & Fivush 2004, Roberts 2002). I ar- the complexity of sequences recalled, and the
gue here that these two components—the spe- duration and retention of those sequences, in-
cific what, when, and where, and mental time creases dramatically and linearly across the first
travel and autonoetic consciousness—can be two year of life, these findings demonstrate
differentiated and that the episodic ability to that even very early in development, infants
recall the specific what, when, and where of an are able to recall a single experience. Thus, re-
event is available across species and human de- search with nonhuman animals and human in-
velopment, but autonoetic awareness is a late- fants clearly indicates that the ability to recall a
developing human ability. specific episode is part of the cognitive reper-
Based on Tulving’s (2002) definition, debate toire across species and age. But one does not
flourished on whether nonhuman animals were need autonoetic awareness to recall a specific
capable of episodic memory (for reviews, see past episode in the service of guiding current
Dere et al. 2006, Roberts 2002). There is now behavior. All that is needed to guide current
compelling evidence that nonhuman animals behavior based on the past is a representation
can base current actions on past experiences of what happened under these conditions, with
in situations that require remembering specific no necessary representation of the self having
what, when, and where information (Clayton experienced this event before (for similar argu-
& Dickinson 1998, Clayton et al. 2003). There ments, see Nelson 2001, Roberts 2002).
is also a small but intriguing set of studies that
suggests nonhuman primates may be able to The role of the self in autobiographical
reflect on their state of knowledge, at least memory. The issue of autonoetic awareness
under some circumstances. Monkeys seem confronts the long, difficult, and tangled ques-
capable of choosing specific rewards based on tion of consciousness. To move beyond repre-
what they think their current state of memory senting what happened (i.e., episodic memory)
562 Fivush
to what happened to me (i.e., autobiographical events, as a continuous being with a past,

memory), the individual must have at least two present, and future that links specific episodic
additional layers of representation (for similar representations into a meaningful sequence
arguments, see Fivush 2001, Fivush & Nelson of events that define a person and a life, is a
2006, Nelson 1996, Tomasello 1999). First, the uniquely human ability, and this is the crux of
individual must have a subjective sense of self autobiographical memory. It is, as labeled, a
who experienced the event; the representation biography of self (Barnes 1998, Conway et al.
must move from a representation of what hap- 2004, Pillemer 1998). And it is uniquely human
pens (pushing the red button releases the de- precisely because it is not possible to create
sired food) to what I did and thought in the past an autobiography outside of a social-cultural
(I remember seeing this before; I pushed the red group (Donald 2001; Nelson 1993, 1996).
button and I got the food I like the best). To
paraphrase William James (1890), when I wake
up in the morning, I do not question whether THE SOCIAL-CULTURAL
I am Peter or Paul; I know I am Peter because DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

I still have Peter’s thoughts and emotions; it is In 2004, Nelson and Fivush explicated a
not that I have thoughts, but that these thoughts social-cultural developmental model of auto-
are mine, they are owned. Second, these thoughts biographical memory (Nelson & Fivush 2004).
have a personal history. I can represent not just Here, I expand on many of the arguments made
what happened but also how I thought and felt in that paper. At its most basic, social-cultural
about it then and how I think and feel about it models explain human activity within cultural
now, and how these two events are connected models that specify what it is to be a person
through time. Thus, one must be able to rep- (Rogoff 1990, Vygotsky 1978). Cultures define
resent one self in the past, and, critically, one canonical forms of social interactions and
must also be able to connect that past self to the activity, such that individuals within a culture
current self as a continuous being in time or develop a shared representation of reality that
else it is not traveling in time, but rather is sim- guides what are considered appropriate and
ply representing an event that happened at one inappropriate behaviors and interactions. Cul-
point in time. What is required for autonoetic tures are organized in such a way that infants
consciousness is to move beyond representa- and children are introduced into appropriate
tions of past experiences to representations of forms of behavior through participating in
a self engaging in these experiences (the “I” in adult structured activities. Cultures define
“I remember” versus simply remembering) and what are considered the critical skills needed
the self as the thread that connects those expe- to be a competent member of that culture and
riences over time. organize activities such that children are drawn
By distinguishing these two components of into participating in these sets of skills through
episodic memory and arguing for a distinction guided practice.
between purely episodic memory and truly For example, in industrialized Western cul-
autobiographical memory, the issue of the tures, literacy is considered a critical skill. Walk
role of consciousness and language in mem- into virtually any home with an infant or tod-
ories of specific events can be more easily dler in these cultures and there will be magnetic
resolved. The data are clear that nonhuman letters and numbers on the refrigerator. These
animals and infants have at least some form materials are available well before the infant is
of episodic memory; indeed, it is difficult to capable of learning their labels, let alone their
imagine an adaptively evolved organism that significance for literate activities. Yet from the
is unable to represent specific past experiences first days of life, infants are brought into con-
to inform current action. However, the ability tact and invited into activities with objects that
to represent one self as an experiencer of will become the cornerstones of necessary adult

skills. In this way, cultural interactions are or- tivities that adults organize for young children
ganized around materials and ideas with which and which they expect young children to engage
children will be expected to become familiar in. Think about a 2-year-old called upon to
and skilled. “tell Daddy what we did in the park today” over
dinner, or to “tell Grandma what happened
to your new red dress” over the telephone. In
Autobiographical Memory preschool, children participate in “sharing” or
is a Social-Cultural Skill “show and tell” around a circle, in which each
While it is the case that all normally func- child takes a turn to tell what he or she did
tioning human individuals are capable of re- over the weekend or brings in a new object and
calling past experiences, the forms and func- tells the story of where it came from. As early
tions of autobiographical memory are socially as grade school, children are expected to write
and culturally variable. For example, again in essays of what they did over their summer vaca-
industrialized Western cultures, it is expected tion and to write their autobiography. Being a
for adults to have a coherent set of connected person means having a story to tell about your
memories that describe who they are as a per- experiences, and these stories help constitute
son (McAdams 2001, Wang & Ross 2007). This who you are (Barnes 1998, McAdams 2001).
story of self is based on cultural assumptions
that a self is an autonomous being and that past
experiences create and cause future experiences.
This is not a set of beliefs that is necessarily Language and Narratives
shared in other historical or cultural contexts in the Construction of
(Fivush & Haden 2003, Oyserman & Markus Autobiographical Memory
1993, Triandis 1989). From this perspective, language and narrative
For example, from an historical perspective, are critical in the development of autobiograph-
several theorists have suggested that current ical memory. From a social-cultural perspec-
conceptualizations of autobiography are based tive, language is one of the most basic tools
on modern industrialized notions of self and that cultures provide for organizing experience
memory. In preindustrial cultures, memories of (Bruner 1990, Fivush 2008, Nelson 1996, Vy-
one’s past were not individualized but rather gotsky 1978). Although language clearly does
were contextualized and communal, and it is not determine thought, it facilitates certain
possible that the idea that one’s internal sub- forms of thought over others. In particular, for
jective experience as a critical part of creating autobiographical memory, language provides
a sense of coherence and consistency over time narrative organization. Narratives are canoni-
did not emerge in human culture until the mid- cal linguistic forms that specify a sequence of
eighteenth century, when the first truly auto- actions and the links between them. Coherent
biographical writings of Rousseau (1782/1954) narratives move beyond a simple sequence to
appeared (McAdams 1992, Nelson 2001). It is provide an explanatory framework for under-
certainly the case empirically that the content standing how and why events unfolded as they
and functions of autobiographical memory vary did. The framework includes intentions, moti-
by cultures in today’s world (for overviews, see vations, thoughts, and emotions that create a
Fivush & Haden 2003, Pillemer 1998, Wang human texture and context for events (Chafe
& Ross 2007). Moreover, this variability can be 1990, Labov 1982, Linde 1993). Whereas a
predicted by specific forms of social-cultural in- chronology specifies a temporally organized se-
teraction embedded within these cultures. quence, a coherent narrative explains why this
The cultural importance of autobio- sequence unfolded as it did and why it matters
graphical memory, especially in industrialized for understanding of self and other in the con-
Western cultures, can be seen in the kinds of ac- text of a social cultural world.
564 Fivush
This is not to argue that autobiographical coherent and connected narratives that allow
memory is linguistically based; it is not. Like for the construction of a personal timeline that
all memory, autobiographical memory is com- links past experiences together into a life nar-
Subjective self:
posed of multiple sensory components that are rative that serves to define self and social rela- self-reflective concept
stored and retrieved across multiple brain areas tions through time. I now turn to the empirical of self as having a
(Conway & Pleydall-Pearce 2000, Rubin 2006). evidence that supports this model, examining specific and unique
In recalling an autobiographical memory, these first the emergence of autobiographical mem- perspective on
personal past
bits and pieces are retrieved and reconstructed ory during the preschool years and then the
experiences
using canonical narrative forms as an organiza- construction of an overarching life narrative,
tional guide (Rubin 2006). Thus, the argument a true autobiography, which develops through
is that culturally defined narratives, linguis- adolescence and early adulthood.
tic forms that provide schemes and guidelines
for understanding how human events occur
(Mandler 1983), help shape the way in which THE EMERGENCE OF
individuals come to recall their personal past. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY

In addition to providing these forms, lan-
guage allows individuals to share their past with
Memory in Infancy
others, and through this to create both shared Memory, broadly conceived, begins even
and independent understandings of the past before birth. Newborn human infants are able
(Cuc et al. 2006, Fivush 2001, Fivush & Haden to make distinctions between novel sounds and
2005, Reese & Fivush 2008). More specifically, sounds familiar from in utero, such as their
it is through language that we can express to mother’s voice (De Casper & Spence 1986), an
others our thoughts and emotions about what ability that seems to rely at least partly on the
happened, and they can share theirs with us. ability to represent previous experiences. Over
In this way, narratives move from what Bruner the course of the first year of life, memory,
(1990) has called the “landscape of actions” to especially recognition memory, becomes more
the “landscape of consciousness.” Narratives reliable and more durable (for a full review, see
provide individuals with a way to share an- Bauer 2007b). By the middle of the first year of
other’s perspective on a past event. Through life, infants can discriminate familiar from novel
sharing the events of our lives with others, we sights and sounds for up to several weeks (Fagan
develop a more nuanced understanding of these 1973), and by 9 months of age, infants demon-
events and of ourselves. Through understand- strate recall of previously seen sequences of
ing how others think and feel about the past, actions through deferred imitation, a method-
the ways in which it is the same as and different ology in which infants are “asked” to recall
from our own thoughts and feelings, we develop previously experienced events through action
a sense of subjective perspective on the past. (Bauer 2004, Bauer et al. 2000; for a review,
Thus, it is through narrating the past with oth- see Bauer 2007a). By the end of the first year,
ers, through joint reminiscing, that we come to infants can reliably recall complex sequences
have a sense of ourselves through time (Fivush seen only once before even after delays of up to
& Nelson 2006). several weeks. Thus, by 12 to 18 months of age,
Following from these arguments, the de- typically developing infants possess complex
velopment of autonoetic consciousness, or the memories of even quite novel experiences and
sense of a subjective self as an experiencer of can reliably demonstrate recall of these experi-
events, depends on participating in socially and ences over substantial delays. Certainly, some
culturally organized reminiscing in which one’s of these developments rely on the development
own memories of a past event can be compared of the underlying neurological substrates of
to another’s. Further, through shared reminisc- memory, especially the hippocampus, but these
ing, children learn the skills for creating more neurological developments only set the stage

for the ensuing behavioral developments; many Maternal Reminiscing Style

of the neurological substrates for memory are
Two decades of research have now confirmed
in place long before children are able to
that there are profound and enduring individ-
engage in autobiographical memory behaviors
ual differences in how mothers reminisce about
(for a full review and discussion, see Bauer
shared past experiences with their preschool
2007b).
children and that these differences are clearly
related to children’s developing autobiographi-
cal memory skills (e.g., Bauer & Burch 2004;
The Development of Verbal Recall Farrant & Reese 2000; Fivush & Vasudeva
The growing memorial capacities of infants are 2002; Flannagan et al. 1995; Haden 1998;
also expressed in language. Virtually as soon as Harley & Reese 1999; Hudson 1990; McCabe
infants are able to put two words together, at & Peterson 1991; Peterson et al. 1999; Welch-
about 16 to 18 months of age (Bloom 1991), Ross, 1997, 2001; for reviews, see Bauer 2007a;
Fivush et al. 2006). Note that for a variety of

they spontaneously refer to past experiences.

Most often, these references are fleeting and theoretical and pragmatic reasons, the over-
are to experiences that occurred relatively re- whelming majority of research on this topic has
cently, such as the berries eaten at breakfast examined mothers; the more limited research
earlier that day or noting that they went to the on fathers is discussed below. Research indi-
park yesterday (Reese 2002a). These references cates that mothers systematically vary along a
indicate the developing ability to retrieve past dimension of elaboration, with some mothers
personal events as well as the spontaneous in- showing a highly elaborative reminiscing style
terest that infants have in sharing their expe- characterized by long and detailed conversa-
riences with others (Eisenberg 1985, Hudson tions about the past, replete with description
1990, Tomasello 1999). Still, at this early point and evaluation, whereas other mothers show
in development, infants rely on adults to help a less elaborative style, talking less frequently
structure, or scaffold, their burgeoning ability and in less detail about the shared past (Fivush
to talk about the past. Infants may provide a & Fromhoff 1988, Hudson 1990, Peterson &
word or two, but it is adults who take these McCabe 1992).
references and put them into a more coher- More specifically maternal elaborative rem-
ent narrative form. For example, a young child iniscing style during the preschool years is de-
looks up from playing with kitchen toys, says fined and measured as comprising several par-
“berries,” and the mother says, “That’s right, ticular utterance types (for a full description
we had strawberries for breakfast, didn’t we? and review, see Fivush et al. 2006). First, elab-
They were delicious.” This pattern raises the orative mothers ask many open-ended ques-
question of whether adults simply reframe chil- tions that both provide some information for
dren’s developing ability to recall experiences the child and encourage the child to recall ad-
into language, or whether the language adults ditional information (e.g., “What did we do in
use actually modulates children’s developing the park today?”). Second, elaborative mothers
autobiographical memory. Social-cultural the- integrate their children’s responses into the on-
ory would argue the latter, that the forms in going narrative to weave together a story that
which adults recast children’s memories into includes multiple narrative components such as
language actually facilitate the developing form the who, what, when, and where of the event
of the memory. Thus, individual differences in (e.g., “That’s right, we went on the swings.
the ways in which adults structure verbal remi- Who else was with us?”) as well as narrative
niscing with their young children should be re- evaluation (“Was that fun?”). When the child
lated to individual differences in children’s de- does not recall, a highly elaborative mother pro-
veloping autobiographical memories. vides the next piece of the story, integrating
566 Fivush
details already recalled, combining the con- is a consistent maternal behavior across child
tributions of mother and child into a coher- age and siblings, but it reflects a specificity of
ent story of what occurred (e.g., if the child conversational strategy such that reminiscing
Maternal
did not recall anything about the park, ask- seems to be a unique discourse context. reminiscing style:
ing “Do you remember going on the swings the structure and
in the park today?”) and continuing to pro- content of maternally
vide bits and pieces of information to invite Correlational Studies of Child guided conversations
the child to participate in the joint reminisc- Memory Outcome about the past that
vary systematically
ing (e.g., “Remember Johnny was on the swings Several longitudinal investigations have now along a dimension of
with us? Remember how much fun you and examined naturally occurring individual differ- elaboration
Johnny had swinging so high?”). In contrast, ences in maternal reminiscing style early in the
mothers with a low elaborative style focus in on preschool years as related to children’s devel-
single bits of information, asking the child to re- oping abilities to recount detailed and coherent
call specific details often in the form of yes-no personal narratives later in the preschool years.
questions (e.g., “Did we go on the swings?”); In many of the longitudinal correlational

when the child does not respond, the mother studies, multiple additional variables were
simply repeats her question. Low elaborative measured, including child age, language,
mothers frequently prompt the child to re- temperament, self-concept, and attachment
member but provide little additional informa- status, variables that theoretically could be
tion to move the story forward (e.g., “Remem- linked to the level of maternal elaboration.
ber? Do you remember?”). Thus, an elaborative Although across these studies these variables
reminiscing style is composed of several ele- predict some aspects of child autobiographical
ments, although the critical element seems to be memory outcome, the major and highly robust
maternal use of open-ended elaborative ques- finding is that maternal reminiscing style
tions (Farrant & Reese 2000, Harley & Reese predicts a high proportion of variance even
1999; for reviews, see Fivush et al. 2006, Reese controlling for these other factors (for detailed
2002b). reviews, see Fivush et al. 2006; Reese 2002a,b).
Subsequent research established several key Essentially, mothers who are more elaborative
additions to these initial findings. First, mater- early in the preschool years have children
nal reminiscing style is consistent over time. who come to report more detailed and more
Mothers who are highly elaborative with their coherent narratives about their own personal
young preschoolers continue to be highly elab- experiences by the end of the preschool years,
orative across childhood (Reese 2002b, Reese both in reminiscing with their mothers and
et al. 1993). Second, maternal reminiscing style recalling their past to an unfamiliar adult in-
does not simply reflect maternal talkativeness. terviewer. Importantly, there is now evidence
Mothers who are highly elaborative during that the effects of maternal reminiscing style
reminiscing are not necessarily those mothers emerge over time; mothers who are highly
who talk more in other conversational contexts, elaborative in reminiscing with their young
such as book reading, free play, and caregiving preschool children uniquely predict the devel-
activities (Haden & Fivush 1996, Lucariello opment of autobiographical memory skills in
& Nelson 1987). Third, mothers who are childhood and adolescence, even controlling
highly elaborative with one child are highly for concurrent maternal reminiscing style
elaborative with their other children, and this (Reese 2002a, Reese et al. 1993), indicating
does not seem to be reducible to children’s both the importance of early experience and
developing language skills (Haden 1998). the gradual development of key skills for the
Thus, it seems that maternal reminiscing style development of autobiographical memory.

Experimental Studies of Child preschool samples into adolescence and finds

Memory Outcome that 12-year-old adolescents whose mothers
displayed a highly elaborative reminiscing style
In addition to correlational studies, a few
when the children were preschoolers now have
studies have now experimentally manipulated
an earlier age of first memory ( Jack et al. 2009,
reminiscing style to examine its effect on
Larkina et al. 2009). Thus, it seems clear that
subsequent recall. This has been done in
children whose mothers are highly elaborative
two ways. In one set of studies, mothers were
during reminiscing early in development, when
trained to be more elaborative in their everyday
children are first learning the skills for recalling
reminiscing with their preschool children. The
their personal past, develop autobiographical
training involves showing mothers some videos
memory skills that persist through childhood
of highly elaborative mothers and talking to
and into adolescence.
mothers about using open-ended questions
that incorporate details of the event under dis-
cussion. Relatively brief training of a few hours

GENDER AND CULTURE

over the course of a few days indicated both that
Findings relating individual differences in ma-
mothers maintained this reminiscing style over
ternal reminiscing to child autobiographical
multiple months and that children increased in
memory outcome raise the question of why
their ability to recall events in detailed coherent
some mothers may be more elaborative when
ways in direct proportion to the extent that
reminiscing than other mothers. It should be
their mothers adopted a more elaborative style
noted here that the vast majority of the founda-
(Boland et al. 2003, Peterson et al. 1999).
tional research on maternal reminiscing style
In another set of studies, experimenters in-
was conducted with broadly defined middle
terviewed children about specific novel events
class Western cultures. From the perspective
they had experienced using either a highly elab-
of social-cultural theory, differences in mater-
orative or a low elaborative style of questioning.
nal reminiscing style should relate in system-
Intriguingly, in this line of research, across a
atic ways to social and cultural frames. If cul-
series of studies, the experimenters questioned
tures define what it means to be a competent
children before the event (e.g., to prepare them
member of that culture and structure activities
for what they would experience), during the
in ways that help develop the appropriate skills
event (e.g., to help them encode the event as
in children, then differences in maternal rem-
it was happening), or after the event (e.g., rem-
iniscing style should be related to differences
iniscing). Across studies, the children who were
in social and cultural norms. In the domain
exposed to a more elaborative style recalled
of autobiographical memory, where the critical
more information and recalled it more coher-
concepts center on the construction of a story
ently, but, critically, children who were inter-
of the self, gendered and cultural construals of
viewed after the event in an elaborative style
self should be critical; indeed, substantial re-
recalled more than did children in either the
search now demonstrates individual differences
before or during condition. Thus, elaborative
in both maternal reminiscing style and autobio-
reminiscing seems to help children consolidate
graphical memory related to gender and culture
their event memories such that they can sub-
(for reviews, see Fivush & Haden 2003, Fivush
sequently provide a coherent detailed account
& Nelson 2004, Wang & Ross 2007).
of the experience (Conroy 2006; McGuigan &
Salmon 2004, 2005; Tessler & Nelson 1994).
Gender and Autobiographical Memory
Enduring Effects of Maternal Self-concept (Markus & Oyserman 1989) and
Reminiscing Style gender identity theories (Gilligan 1982) have
Perhaps most intriguing, longitudinal correla- proposed gender differences in the ways in
tional research has now followed some of the which females and males conceptualize their
568 Fivush
identity. Findings indicate that females, at least Culture and Autobiographical

in industrialized Western cultures, are more Memory
emotionally and relationally oriented. Theories
Similar to gender, it has been theorized that
vary in the extent to which they offer essen-
there are broad differences between Western
tialist versus socialization explanations of these
and Eastern cultures in conceptualizing the
differences, but by adulthood, females report
self. Western notions of self focus on the
thinking about emotions more frequently and
self as an autonomous self-directed entity,
intensely than do males and thinking about re-
whereas Eastern cultures conceptualize a more
lationships more than do males; in behavior,
relationally oriented, communal notion of
females express more emotions than do males,
self (Oyserman & Marcus 1993, Triandis
decode and interpret others emotions more ac-
1989, Wang & Ross 2007). These differences
curately than do males, and talk more about
are captured in the labels “independent”
people and relationships (for a detailed review,
and “interdependent” self-concepts. Adults
see Cross & Madson 1997). In terms of autobi-
in Western cultures tell detailed, specific,

ographical memory, as adults, females recount

autobiographical narratives focused on their
longer, more detailed, more vivid, more emo-
own activities, thoughts, and feelings, whereas
tionally laden, and more relationally oriented
adults in Eastern cultures tell autobiographical
narratives about their personal experiences than
narratives that are more general, less detailed,
do males (Bauer et al. 2003, Davis 1999, Fivush
and placed in a more communal framework,
& Buckner 2003, Pohl et al. 2005, Thorne &
considering their own actions in relation to
McLean 2002).
group norms and needs (Wang & Ross 2007).
From a social-cultural perspective, these
Again, these adult differences seem to be
adult differences in autobiographical memory
mirrored in early maternal reminiscing style.
should be related to specific socially organized
In studies directly comparing cultures, mothers
activities earlier in development. Indeed, al-
from Western cultures are more elaborative
though not all studies find gender differences,
and focus more on the child than on the group,
when gender differences are obtained, they are
whereas mothers from Eastern cultures are
always in the direction that mothers and fa-
less elaborative and more didactic, placing the
thers are more elaborative when reminiscing
child’s individual experiences in the context of
with their preschool daughters than with their
the group and moral behavior (Mullin & Yi
preschool sons (Adams et al. 1995, Fivush et al.
1995; Wang 2001, 2003; Wang & Fivush 2005).
2003, Kuebli & Fivush 1992, Reese & Fivush
Thus, in support of social-cultural theory,
1993, Reese et al. 1996). Thus, it might be the
the different ways in which parents structure
case that gender is being displayed in parent-
autobiographical reminiscing with their young
child reminiscing such that parents are “train-
children is related empirically to individual
ing” their daughters to be more elaborative be-
differences in autobiographical memory skills
cause this conforms to societal expectations of
across childhood and adolescence and is the-
female roles and behaviors, to be the keepers of
oretically related to more overarching gender
family histories (Rosenthal 1985). In line with
and culture differences that we see in adult au-
this explanation, by the end of the preschool
tobiographical memories.
years, girls are telling longer, more detailed, and
more coherent narratives than are boys, at least
in Western cultures (Bauer et al. 2007a; Buck-
ner & Fivush 1998; Fivush et al. 1995, 2000), AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY
suggesting that these early parent-child remi- AND THE SUBJECTIVE SELF
niscing experiences are related to gender dif- By the end of the preschool years, children
ferences that emerge early in development and are able to verbally report on their personal
are seen throughout the lifespan. past experiences, and those children whose

mothers are more elaborative during reminisc- Autobiographical memory, defined as a sense of
ing develop more sophisticated autobiographi- a self as continuous in time linked across spe-
cal memory skills, such that they tell more de- cific experiences placed on a personal timeline
tailed and coherent narratives about their per- that stretches back into a personal past linked to
sonal past. Further, theoretical links between the present and projected into the future, may
early maternal reminiscing styles that vary sys- begin to emerge by the end of the preschool
temically by gender and culture are linked to years but may not be fully consolidated until
gender and cultural differences in adults’ au- adolescence and early adulthood.
tobiographical narratives, and new longitudi-
nal data are emerging that provide empirical
support for these theoretical links. However, Subjective Consciousness
as I argued earlier, as yet this may remain evi- Early ideas about memory, both historically and
dence of episodic memory but perhaps not au- developmentally, conceptualized memory as a
tobiographical memory. Although preschoolers copy of reality (Donald 2001; Nelson 1996,
can report on the what, where, and when of an 2001). That is, what is remembered is “objec-
event, they may not yet have a subjective sense tively” what happened. Without the ability to
of themselves as experiencers of these events share our memories with others through lan-
placed on a personal timeline that defines a con- guage, it is difficult to imagine how this idea of
tinuous self through time. memory might change. It is only through lan-
What might be involved in these develop- guage that we can directly compare our memory
ments? First, the individual must move from of an event with another individuals’ memory of
remembering what happened to remembering that same event. Even more, without language
that this happened to me. In Tulving’s (2002) it would not be possible to share our thoughts
terminology, the individual must develop au- and emotions about the past with others and
tonoetic, or subjective, consciousness. Second, to compare our thoughts and emotions with
the individual must be able to link past experi- theirs. It is through the ability to share rep-
ences to the present; that the self that experi- resentations of the past with others that chil-
enced events in the past is the same self that ex- dren become aware that memories are repre-
periences events in the present (and will be the sentations and not copies of reality; that is, that
same self in the future). Note that this does not memories are remembered differently by dif-
require that the self is a constant: The self can ferent people (Fivush 2001, Fivush & Haden
change over time, but these changes must be re- 2005, Fivush & Nelson 2006).
lated in systematic ways to the personal past; it is In addition to providing highly detailed and
not that one simply wakes up a different person, coconstructed narratives of the past with their
but rather that one has experiences that lead to young children, mothers who are highly elabo-
change (McLean et al. 2007, Pasupathi et al. rative also reminisce more about thoughts and
2007). There is a “story” of how the self became feelings (Fivush 2007, Fivush et al. 2000, Fivush
who one is (McLean et al. 2007). Third, the in- & Haden 2005). Through reminiscing about
dividual must be able to create a personal time- internal states, more highly elaborative moth-
line, to construct a coherent chronologically or- ers are highlighting what Bruner (1990) has
ganized sequence of how events followed one called “the landscape of consciousness,” under-
another and are linked together in the past and scoring the subjective nature of recall. Further,
to the present; essentially, the individual must through reminiscing about thoughts and emo-
have a chronological biography of self (Haber- tions, these early maternally guided conversa-
mas 2007, Habermas & Bluck 2000). Each of tions highlight for children that different peo-
these components is itself a complex cognitive ple can have different subjective perspectives
achievement with a long developmental history. on the same objective event. We went to the
570 Fivush
zoo, and I remember the giraffes but you do Linking the Past Self to
not; I remember being scared of the lion but the Present Self
you thought it was funny, and so on. Through
Closely related to the ability to take a subjec-
reminiscing about the past with others, children
tive perspective on the past is the ability to link
move from a copy theory of memory to a per-
the past to the present. Without an understand-
spectival theory of memory (Fivush & Nelson
ing that the self in the past is the same self
2006) and begin to understand that memories
that exists in the present, there can be no sense
are subjective representations that differ even
of self as the experiencer of the past. It is the
among those who ostensibly experienced the
ongoing sense of a subjective stream of con-
same event.
sciousness that provides a link between our past
Indeed, mothers who focus more on
and our present (Damasio 1999, James 1890)
thoughts and emotions when reminiscing with
and allows for mental time travel; the self that
their preschool children have children who,
had the experience in the past is the same self
by the end of the preschool years, incorporate
that is now recalling that experience. Two lines

more internal state language in their personal

of research suggest that this is an understand-
narratives (Kuebli et al. 1995, Rudek & Haden
ing that emerges only gradually across human
2005) and show higher levels of understanding
childhood.
of subjective perspective, the idea that others
First, Povinelli and associates (Povinelli
can think and feel differently about an event
2001; Povinelli et al. 1996, 1999) examined the
than the self, a concept that has been labeled
ability to link a past event to present self us-
“theory of mind” in the developmental litera-
ing a variation of the classic mirror task (Gallup
ture (Bird & Reese 2006, Welch-Ross 2001).
1970). In this task, individuals are surrepti-
Through middle childhood and well into ado-
tiously marked with rouge on their nose or
lescence, children continue to increase in their
forehead, a mark that is not visible to them,
inclusion of internal state language in their per-
and are then placed in front of a mirror. Self-
sonal narratives, information about their own
directed behavior such as immediately touch-
thoughts and evaluations of events, as well as
ing the place on the self that has been marked is
others’ thoughts and evaluations (Bauer et al.
taken as evidence that there is self-recognition,
2007b, Bohanek & Fivush 2010, Fivush et al.
the idea that the individual depicted in the mir-
1995). Further, children’s use of language in-
ror references one’s own body and therefore
dicative of subjective perspective continues to
that one has a concept of one’s self (Lewis &
be linked to maternal guidance even in middle
Brooks-Gunn 1979). Few nonhuman animals
childhood (Bauer et al. 2005). Thus, there is
show this behavior, and human children do not
good evidence that children begin to develop
show this behavior much before the age of about
a sense of subjective consciousness about their
18 to 24 months. Povinelli adapted this task to
past experiences, as indexed by their use of in-
examine the development of a temporally ex-
ternal state language in their personal narra-
tended sense of self. He engaged preschool chil-
tives, by the end of the preschool years and that
dren in play and surreptitiously placed a sticker
this is linked to engaging in specific kinds of
on their head during the interaction. He then
social interactions about the past. There is also
showed the children a videotape of themselves
suggestive evidence that subjective perspective
in the playroom with a sticker on their head,
continues to develop throughout childhood and
either immediately after the play session or a
into adolescence. This is indeed an impor-
few days later. Three-year-old children do not
tant question for future research: How does
make the connection between their depiction
subjective perspective on one’s past become
on the videotape and the sticker at all. They
more differentiated and integrated into autobi-
simply do not reach for the sticker. Four-year-
ographical memories across childhood and into
old children do reach for the sticker, but they
adulthood?

do so regardless of when they were in the play- that they understand that mental states persist
room. Even a few days later, they will immedi- through time and influence current behavior.
ately reach for the sticker, assuming it is still on These findings resonate with the findings
their head. Only at age 5 do children begin to on the use of internal state language to nar-
understand the temporal connection between rate the personal past and suggest that it is
past and present self: If shown the videotape not until the end of the preschool years that
immediately after the play session, they reach children come to have a subjective perspective
to remove the sticker; if shown a few days later, on the past, which includes persistent internal
they point and laugh but indicate that they are states or stream of consciousness, that creates
aware that it was in the past and the sticker is a continuous self through time. However, an
no longer on their head. Thus, it seems that intriguing new area of research on children’s
it is only by the end of the preschool years that developing ability to project themselves into
children are able to make temporal connections the future complicates this conclusion. There
between the past and present self. is a long theoretical history linking memory of
Further evidence for this comes from the past to projection into the future in terms
a clever series of studies by Lagattuta and of planning and guiding behavior (see Schacter
colleagues. Whereas the Povinelli experiments et al. 2008 for a review). The critical question
indicate a late-developing ability to make here is the extent to which individuals rely on
temporal connections between past external “scripts” to plan behavior (i.e., semantic mem-
states and current self, Lagattuta & Wellmen ory of what usually happens) versus the extent
(2001, 2002) probe further into when children to which they rely on projecting an imagined
are able to reason about past internal states self into the future engaging in these activities.
and connections to current behavior. They Atance & O’Neill (2005) discuss the difficulties
ask preschoolers to predict how a child might of assessing this distinction empirically and de-
behave in a certain situation (e.g., reactions to a scribe a series of studies with preschool children
new dog encountered in the park) as a baseline. that tries to disentangle these two strategies: re-
They then show children a series of pictures liance on scripts and projection of self into the
about previous experiences of particular chil- future, for planning future behavior. In their
dren (e.g., this child is afraid of dogs, or this studies, they ask children to plan for possible
child’s dog died). They then ask children to link upcoming events and determine the extent to
together these stories with predictions about which the plans present scripted components of
behavior in the present. Children under the how events simply unfold as compared to more
age of 5 have great difficulty with these tasks. personal components of how one might feel and
Regardless of the stories told about specific react in future episodes (e.g., “I will be thirsty so
previous experiences of specific children, they I’ll need to take water with me”). By age 3 to 4,
continue to predict that the child will eagerly children provide plans based on these kinds of
approach the dog. At about age 5, children self-projections into the future. This suggests
begin to link up the past and the present; they that preschool children are able to link current
predict that this specific child will be afraid of self with an imagined future self, linking inter-
the dog, or very sad when they see the dog, nal states and how they may change over time.
and they are able to explain their predictions Thus, it may be the case that the ability to link
by linking previous experiences to the present internal states of the current self with the fu-
through mental states that persist through time. ture self develops earlier than the ability to link
Thus, before the end of the preschool years, we internal states of the current self with the past
do not see any evidence that children are able to self.
connect past with present in causally connected, This possibility is in accord with argu-
temporally organized sequences, nor evidence ments by Nelson (2003) and Donald (2001) that
572 Fivush
memory is first and foremost about the future refers to any event in the future (Harner 1982).
and perhaps, phylogenetically, only incidentally Preschoolers can accurately judge which of two
about the past, and again raises questions of events occurred in the more recent or distant
why humans may have developed such an in- past, but only if these are in the relatively re-
tricate autobiographical memory system at all, cent past; for events that occurred more than a
a question I return to at the end of the review. few months ago, even 8-year-old children are
However, what is also clear from these studies is at chance (Friedman 1992, 2003; Friedman &
the theoretical and empirical difficulty of distin- Kemp 1998).
guishing between action planned on the basis of Even later-developing are skills for organiz-
scripted knowledge and action planned on the ing multiple life experiences along a timeline.
basis of projecting self into the future. Scripts, Habermas & Bluck (2000) argued that it was
of course, are not static entities but include not until adolescence that the social and cogni-
a great deal of generalized knowledge about tive advances undergirding a life narrative, such
possible optional and conditional pathways as perspective-taking skills and abstract reason-
(Nelson 1986), and children may still be using ing, are available. Recent work is beginning to
this type of generalized knowledge to plan the elucidate this process. Habermas & de Silveira
future rather than an episodic representation of (2008) asked participants from age 8 through
self in the future, and it is not yet clear how these 20 to narrate seven personally significant events
different strategies can be differentiated empir- and then to place them on a personal timeline.
ically (for very thoughtful discussions of this Although the 8-year-olds were above chance on
problem, see Atance & O’Neill 2005, Sudden- this task, it was not until age 12 that children
dorf & Busby 2005). What is clear is that even began to link single events together causally,
if preschool children do project self into the fu- and the causal and biographical reasoning used
ture, they are not yet able to provide a chrono- increased in complexity and coherence across
logically organized sense of self that is linked age (for similar findings, see Bauer et al. 2007a).
through past, present, and future, or what has Reese and colleagues (2010) additionally found
been called a personal timeline. that 8-year-olds could nominate “chapters” or
life periods that describe their history, but the
number and complexity of these chapters in-
Constructing a Personal Timeline creased with age. Thus, it seems that a life nar-
For true autobiography, one must move beyond rative begins to emerge in middle childhood,
linking past to present to creating a fully elab- but the complexity and coherence of this nar-
orated chronological personal timeline. In ad- rative increase across adolescence.
dition to knowing that an event happened in
the past to me and that I am the same self that
experienced that event as I am now, the indi- THE FUNCTIONS OF
vidual must further be able to create a personal AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY
timeline that temporally organizes the entirety The empirical evidence indicates that auto-
of one’s life story (Habermas & Bluck 2000; biographical memory, defined as a subjective
McAdams 2001, 2004). We know remarkably perspective on specific events experienced at
little about the development of children’s con- particular time points linked together on a
cept of time, and recent research suggests that personal timeline, develops gradually across
this is a much later-developing skill than might childhood and adolescence. If this is the
be surmised (Friedman 1993, 2004). Although case, then why has such a memory system
even 2- and 3-year-old children will use tem- developed at all? What might be the functions
poral terms such as “yesterday” and “tomor- of autobiographical memory? Simple episodic
row,” when probed, it seems that yesterday memories allow the individual to represent
refers to any event in the past and tomorrow specific past experiences to guide current and

future behavior. The distinguishing factor for In accord with social-cultural theory, both
autobiographical memory is relation to self and, autobiographical memory and self-definition
in particular, a self that is continuous in time. are individually and culturally variable. Re-
Thus, it seems probable that autobiographical lations between gendered and cultural self-
memory has developed in humans for primar- concepts and autobiographical memory have al-
ily social and cultural reasons (Donald 2001; ready been discussed. Parents reminisce with
Nelson 1993, 2001, 2003; Pillemer 1998). their young children in gender-specific ways,
The findings that individual autobiographical and children come to narrate their own personal
memory is socially and culturally variable experiences through a gendered lens. Critically,
and dependent on specific social-cultural it is also the case that males and females have
interactions support such a view. More specif- gendered self-concepts that are linked to these
ically, autobiographical memory serves three differences in reminiscing; for example, females
interrelated self functions: self-definition, self- define themselves as more emotionally and re-
in-relation, and self-regulation (Fivush et al. lationally oriented, and their autobiographi-
2003; for similar arguments, see Bluck & Alea cal narratives contain more emotional and re-
2002, Pillemer 1998). Importantly, all three lational content. Females also report valuing
functions are related to individual well-being. and sharing their autobiographical memories
with others more so than do males (Fivush &
Bucker 2003). Similarly, Wang (2001, 2003)
has demonstrated that mothers in Western cul-
Self-Definition tures reminisce in more elaborated ways than
Autobiographical memory is a personal his- do mothers in Eastern cultures, and these dif-
tory that defines who one is across time and ferences are linked to cultural differences in
contexts. Thus, autobiographical memories self-concept such that children in Western cul-
provide for a sense of continuity and coher- tures develop a more autonomous differentiated
ence for the individual (Conway et al. 2004, sense of self than do children in Eastern cul-
McAdams 1992). As such, autobiographical tures. Even within cultural groups, individual
memories are intimately linked to self-concept. differences in maternal reminiscing style have
The relations between autobiographical mem- been linked to developing self-concept. Chil-
ory and self-concept are surely dialectical; dren of mothers who reminisce in more highly
memories define self, and current self defines elaborative ways have a more differentiated and
which memories may be the most and least coherent sense of self (Bird & Reese 2006).
accessible (Conway & Pleydall-Pearce 2000). Thus, a more elaborated maternal reminiscing
It must be emphasized that this is only one type style is linked individually, by gender and by
of self-concept. Although there is debate on culture, to more elaborated personal autobio-
how best to characterize different kinds of self- graphical narratives and to a more differentiated
knowledge (e.g., Damasio 1999, James 1890, self-concept.
Neisser 1988), there is agreement that one
critical aspect of self-knowledge is the sense of
a self temporally extended in time that provides Self in Relation
a sense of continuity of experience. In fact, Autobiographical memories are framed within
individuals with dense amnesias who are unable social-cultural narratives of a life that help de-
to recall specific past experiences self-report a fine self in relation to others; in turn, autobio-
keen sense of loss and that they are no longer graphical memories serve to create and main-
“themselves” (Hirst 1994). Thus, although not tain social and emotional bonds with others
the only form of self-definition, the sense of a through reminiscing and through representa-
self as continuous through time seems to be a tions of relationships (Fivush 2008, Reese &
critical aspect of defining who one is. Fivush 2008). At the cultural level, cultures
574 Fivush
define the form and the shape of a life, how a ories of engaging in experiences with others
life typically unfolds in terms of specified events define those relationships. Within the attach-
at specified developmental points. This kind of ment literature, which focuses on social and
knowledge has been called a culturally canon- emotional bonds between individuals, memo-
ical biography (Habermas & Bluck 2000) or a ries of experiences with others provide a frame-
life script (Bernsten & Rubin 2004). Recent re- work for interpreting current relationships (for
search indicates that even children as young as an overview, see Cassidy & Shaver 1999), and
8 years know what a typical life within their cul- ongoing research in our lab suggests that defin-
ture looks like and what events are most likely ing and describing relationships with others is a
to happen and when (e.g., school, graduation, frequent function of recalling past experiences
marriage, children, career choices) (Bernsten & (Waters 2010).
Bohn 2010). Thus, life scripts define individual
lives in relation to social and cultural norms and
consequently help shape individual autobiogra- Self-Regulation
phies. Intriguingly, reminiscing is intimately related

At the more local level, family stories— to both physical and psychological health. In
narratives of one’s parents and their parents terms of memories of specific autobiographical
before them—provide more specific frames for events, a substantial body of research demon-
defining self in relation to others (Fivush et al. strates that the ability to create emotionally
2010). These kinds of intergenerational narra- coherent narratives of specific stressful experi-
tives serve to create a sense of connection to ences is related to well-being (for reviews, see
family as well as a sense of self in relation to Frattaroli 2006, Pennebaker & Chung 2007). In
specific family members, and adolescents who particular, individuals who are able to construct
know more of these stories and tell these sto- narratives that provide explanatory frameworks
ries in more detailed and elaborated ways show and integrate and resolve emotional experi-
higher levels of identity achievement and emo- ences subsequently display higher levels of self-
tional well-being. reported well-being, better physical health as
At the individual level, sharing the events of indexed by doctor visits and immune system
our lives with others is a ubiquitous and mean- functioning, and higher levels of constructive
ingful activity. Based on analyses of everyday behavior in the world (e.g., better grades, bet-
conversation, it is estimated that references to a ter job performance). Emotional benefits are
past event occur approximately every five min- not limited to negative events. Individuals who
utes (Bohanek et al. 2009, Miller 1994). Self- share the positive events of their day with others
report data indicate that sharing the events of also show higher levels of emotional well-being
our lives with others is a frequent and impor- (Frederickson 2001). Thus, the way in which we
tant social activity (Bluck & Alea 2002, Pille- remember and share specific autobiographical
mer 1998), and a programmatic series of stud- events bears on our well-being.
ies by Rime and colleagues (1998) indicates that As argued throughout this review, devel-
the overwhelming majority, perhaps more then opmentally, children are learning how to cre-
90%, of the emotional experiences of our lives ate more elaborated and coherent autobio-
are shared with others within a few hours or graphical narratives through participating in
days of their occurrence. Clearly, there is a hu- adult-guided reminiscing. In fact, mothers who
man tendency to tell others about our experi- reminisce about emotional experiences with
ences, and this kind of reminiscing serves to their children in more elaborated and coher-
create and maintain social bonds through time. ent ways have children who show higher lev-
In addition, relationships with others els of emotional understanding and regulation
through time are represented in specific auto- (Laible 2004a,b). More specifically, mothers
biographical memories. That is, having mem- who provide more explanations and emotional

expressions and resolutions when reminiscing to include representations of self engaging in

about highly stressful events with their children experiences that link past self to current self
have children who show higher levels of coping along a personal timeline that defines a life. Sec-
skills and lower levels of depression and anxiety ond, autobiographical memory is socially and
(Fivush & Sales 2006, Sales & Fivush 2005). culturally variable and empirically related to
Turning to more overarching autobio- participation in specific social activities. Third,
graphical life narratives, individuals who are autobiographical memory is late developing.
able to create more coherent life narratives, Multiple component skills, each with its own
narratives that span their childhood and early complex developmental history, coalesce in
adulthood and create a coherent story of self, adolescence and early adulthood to form a co-
show higher levels of emotional well-being herent life narrative, which is the crux of auto-
(McAdams 2004). In particular, individuals who biographical memory. Fourth, if autobiograph-
are able to create a life narrative that presents ical memory is, indeed, unique to humans and is
difficult and stressful life experiences as op- late developing, the question of why such a sys-
portunities and springboards for growth show tem develops at all becomes important. In con-
higher levels of identity achievement in early trast to episodic memory, which serves mainly
adulthood (McLean & Breen 2009), generativ- directive functions, autobiographical memory
ity and emotional well-being in middle adult- seems to serve more social and self-defining
hood (Burton & King 2004, McAdams 2004), functions.
and a sense of integrity and acceptance in old Perhaps surprisingly, we know remarkably
age (Webster 2001). Clearly, our memories and little about the development of autobiographi-
our well-being are intimately related; provoca- cal memory. Although it is well established that
tively, we do not yet understand the mecha- maternal reminiscing style predicts the devel-
nisms linking coherent life narratives to well- opment of elaborated and coherent narratives,
being. This is an intriguing and important area the development of a subjective self has been
for future research. less studied. Further, research on the develop-
ment of autobiographical memory has focused
on the emergence of these abilities during the
CONCLUSIONS preschool years, and we know little about the
Autobiographical memory is a uniquely hu- development of autobiographical memory dur-
man system that depends on a complex set ing childhood and adolescence. Moreover, in
of skills that develop gradually across child- order to fully understand the development of
hood and adolescence within specific social- autobiographical memory, we need to know a
cultural interactions. Several themes emerge great deal more about the developmental un-
from this review. First, autobiographical mem- derstanding of time and the construction of
ory can be distinguished from episodic memory. a personal timeline. Finally, the question of
Episodic memory, defined as representations why autobiographical memory develops at all
of specific past events that include information leads to intriguing questions about the inter-
about what, when, and where, is present across sections of memory and self and, ultimately,
species and across ages. Autobiographical mem- how humans create meaning out of their
ory, in contrast, builds on the episodic system lives.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This review was prepared while I was supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to
the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life. Many people helped me think through
these ideas and commented on earlier versions of this article, although, of course, any errors in
576 Fivush
reasoning are entirely my own. I especially thank Patricia Bauer, Marina Larkina, Theo Waters,
Widaad Zaman, and Daniel Schacter for their very thoughtful comments.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The author is not aware of any affiliations, memberships, funding, or financial holdings that might
be perceived as affecting the objectivity of this review.
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PS62-FrontMatter ARI 15 November 2010 17:50
Annual Review of
Psychology
Volume 62, 2011 Contents
Prefatory
The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children:

A Critical Cognitive Skill

Rachel Keen ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 1
Decision Making
The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making
James K. Rilling and Alan G. Sanfey ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣23
Speech Perception
Speech Perception
Arthur G. Samuel ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣49
Attention and Performance
A Taxonomy of External and Internal Attention
Marvin M. Chun, Julie D. Golomb, and Nicholas B. Turk-Browne ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣73
Language Processing
The Neural Bases of Social Cognition and Story Comprehension
Raymond A. Mar ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 103
Reasoning and Problem Solving
Causal Learning and Inference as a Rational Process:
The New Synthesis
Keith J. Holyoak and Patricia W. Cheng ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 135
Emotional, Social, and Personality Development
Development in the Early Years: Socialization, Motor Development,
and Consciousness
Claire B. Kopp ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 165
Peer Contagion in Child and Adolescent Social
and Emotional Development
Thomas J. Dishion and Jessica M. Tipsord ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 189
vi
Adulthood and Aging

Psychological Wisdom Research: Commonalities and Differences in a
Growing Field
Ursula M. Staudinger and Judith Glück ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 215
Development in the Family
Socialization Processes in the Family: Social and
Emotional Development
Joan E. Grusec ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 243
Psychopathology
Delusional Belief
Max Coltheart, Robyn Langdon, and Ryan McKay ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 271

Therapy for Specific Problems
Long-Term Impact of Prevention Programs to Promote Effective
Parenting: Lasting Effects but Uncertain Processes
Irwin N. Sandler, Erin N. Schoenfelder, Sharlene A. Wolchik,
and David P. MacKinnon ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 299
Self and Identity
Do Conscious Thoughts Cause Behavior?
Roy F. Baumeister, E.J. Masicampo, and Kathleen D. Vohs ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 331
Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation
Todd F. Heatherton ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 363
Attitude Change and Persuasion
Attitudes and Attitude Change
Gerd Bohner and Nina Dickel ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 391
Cross-Country or Regional Comparisons
Culture, Mind, and the Brain: Current Evidence and Future Directions
Shinobu Kitayama and Ayse K. Uskul ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 419
Cognition in Organizations
Heuristic Decision Making
Gerd Gigerenzer and Wolfgang Gaissmaier ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 451
Structures and Goals of Educational Settings
Early Care, Education, and Child Development
Deborah A. Phillips and Amy E. Lowenstein ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 483
Contents vii
Psychophysiological Disorders and Psychological Dimensions

on Medical Disorders
Psychological Perspectives on Pathways Linking Socioeconomic Status
and Physical Health
Karen A. Matthews and Linda C. Gallo ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 501
Psychological Science on Pregnancy: Stress Processes, Biopsychosocial
Models, and Emerging Research Issues
Christine Dunkel Schetter ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 531
Research Methodology
The Development of Autobiographical Memory
Robyn Fivush ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 559
The Disaggregation of Within-Person and Between-Person Effects in

Longitudinal Models of Change
Patrick J. Curran and Daniel J. Bauer ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 583
Thirty Years and Counting: Finding Meaning in the N400
Component of the Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP)
Marta Kutas and Kara D. Federmeier ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 621
Indexes
Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 52–62 ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 000

Cumulative Index of Chapter Titles, Volumes 52–62 ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 000
Errata
An online log of corrections to Annual Review of Psychology articles may be found at

http://psych.AnnualReviews.org/errata.shtml
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PS62CH21-Fivush ARI 11 November 2010 13:30

Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322;

Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011. 62:559–82 Key Words

clearly differentiated between episodic memory

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 561

to what happened to me (i.e., autobiographical events, as a continuous being with a past,

I am Peter or Paul; I know I am Peter because DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 563

individuals come to recall their personal past. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 565

for the ensuing behavioral developments; many Maternal Reminiscing Style

Fivush et al. 2006). Note that for a variety of

they spontaneously refer to past experiences.

questions (e.g., “Did we go on the swings?”); In many of the longitudinal correlational

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 567

Experimental Studies of Child preschool samples into adolescence and finds

cussion. Relatively brief training of a few hours

GENDER AND CULTURE

identity. Findings indicate that females, at least Culture and Autobiographical

in Western cultures tell detailed, specific,

ographical memory, as adults, females recount

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 569

that is now recalling that experience. Two lines

more internal state language in their personal

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 571

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 573

phies. Intriguingly, reminiscing is intimately related

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 575

expressions and resolutions when reminiscing to include representations of self engaging in

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 577

narrator. Mem. Cogn. 34:752–62

J. Cogn. Dev. 3:73–90

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 579

www.annualreviews.org • The Development of Autobiographical Memory 581

Volume 62, 2011 Contents

The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children:

A Critical Cognitive Skill

Adulthood and Aging

Max Coltheart, Robyn Langdon, and Ryan McKay ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 271

Psychophysiological Disorders and Psychological Dimensions

The Disaggregation of Within-Person and Between-Person Effects in

Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 52–62 ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 000

An online log of corrections to Annual Review of Psychology articles may be found at

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