Fifty-five subjects recalled autobiographical episodes or personal fac
ts such as names of friends and teachers, from different lifetime peri
ods. In each case, subjects were given 90 sec in which to retrieve as
many items as possible. Also tested was subjects' fluency in generatin
g items from semantic categories (animals, vegetables, British prime m
inisters, and U.S. presidents). Results of cluster analysis on the flu
ency tasks showed a dissociation between subjects' ability to retrieve
personal episodes, personal semantic information, and nonpersonal sem
antic information. The dissociations observed in the fluency tasks are
interpreted in terms of the different retrieval strategies required f
or the different types of information sought.