Autobiographical memory across the life-span.

The processes of autobiographical memory were studied in four groups with mean ages of 12.7, 19.1, 44.5 and 67.2 years. Participants provided memories of specific events in response to single-word prompts. Analyses of response time and age of memories indicated response time remains stable during adulthood, whereas average event age increases. Analyses of retention function, however, indicated little difference in the retrieval of memories from recent intervals. Imagery value and meaningfulness correlated with response time for all age groups but only correlated with age of memories for college students. The data suggest similarity of memory systems across age for the level of functioning associated with the encoding of daily events.