MEMORY FOR THE TIME OF 60-MINUTES STORIES AND NEWS EVENTS

This study rested whether impressions of the temporal distances of pas t events provide differentiated information about the times of events from the past. months. Participants judged the times of stories from t he television show ''60 Minutes'' that were not easily linked to conte mporaneous events and, in a comparison condition, of news events, They also compared the relative recency of pairs of ''60 Minutes'' stories that had been broadcast the same week or during different weeks. Resu lts showed that the times of ''60 Minutes'' stories could be different iated if they fell within the past 1 to 2 months, but the times of old er events were mainly undifferentiated, Memory for the temporal contig uity of ''60 Minutes'' stories was also very pear. The times of news s tories were accurate throughout the range of times. These findings pro vide information about the time course over which distance information is useful.