VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY ACCESS TO AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY

Involuntary autobiographical memories recorded in a diary study are co mpared to voluntary autobiographical memories retrieved in response to verbal cues in a laboratory. The verbal cues were generated to be com parable to the cues that were found to elicit the involuntary memories . The findings demonstrate that voluntary and involuntary retrieval ma y access different samples of autobiographical memories. The voluntary memories were (1) less specific, (2) more frequently rehearsed, and ( 3) less emotionally positive than the involuntary memories. A reanalys is of the diary study examined conditions of involuntary retrieval. Th e memories occurred most frequently when attention was diffuse. They w ere typically triggered by environmental cues matching central feature s of the remembered event. The findings are discussed in relation to c urrent models of autobiographical memory.