THE DISTRIBUTION OF SELF-NARRATIVE MEMORIES IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS - ELABORATING THE SELF-NARRATIVE HYPOTHESIS

The age distribution of freely sampled autobiographical memories for o lder adults consistently reflects both a strong recency effect and a t rend to report a large portion of memories from the age range 15-25. T he self-narrative hypothesis proposes that the large proportion of you thful memories reflects the availability of a pool of identity-related memories from this age range. The present study tested and supported two related hypotheses. First, adults instructed to recall memories th at are an important parr of their life story report a large proportion of memories from the adolescent and young adult periods. Second, youn ger (median = 36 years) and older (median = 66 years) adults show simi lar patterns of sampling from that period. Additional analyses indicat ed that both age groups show similar profiles of rehearsal and preoccu pation. The data provide support for the self-narrative hypothesis and the value of functional analyses of memory.