Howes J L, Katz A N
University of Western Ontario.
Can J Psychol. 1992 Mar;46(1):92-116. doi: 10.1037/h0084311.
In this study the recall of autobiographical and public events across the lifespan was examined in a sample of middle-aged and older-aged adults. The tasks were modified versions of one first introduced by Galton (1879), and they required subjects to recall events from specific time periods across their entire lifespan. The four tasks differed in the nature of the episodes requested (autobiographical or public) and whether recall was word-cued or non-word-cued. Verification of public events was assessed archivally, and autobiographical events were verified by a sample of relatives for a subgroup of the subjects and reported events. The results indicated that memory for public events decreases with increased age of the subject, but this effect is not generally found for the recall of autobiographical events. The older-aged subjects were able to recall an equal number of autobiographical episodes from all life segments, whereas recall of news events tended to decrease with remoteness of the episode. These data are contrary to those models that posit general memory loss as a function of age or of remoteness of the events.
在本研究中，对中年和老年成年人样本在整个生命周期内对自传性事件和公共事件的回忆进行了考察。这些任务是高尔顿（1879年）首次提出的任务的修改版本，要求受试者回忆其整个生命周期中特定时间段的事件。这四项任务在所要求回忆的事件性质（自传性或公共性）以及回忆是由词语提示还是非词语提示方面存在差异。公共事件的核实通过档案评估，自传性事件由部分受试者的亲属样本对所报告的事件进行核实。结果表明，对公共事件的记忆随着受试者年龄的增长而下降，但在自传性事件的回忆中一般未发现这种效应。老年受试者能够从所有生命阶段回忆起数量相等的自传性事件，而对新闻事件的回忆往往随着事件的久远而减少。这些数据与那些认为记忆普遍衰退是年龄或事件久远程度的函数的模型相反。
