Methodological Aspects in the Study of Autobiographical Memory
Abstract
Although the last three decades have seen an increased use of objective assessments of autobiographical memory, contemporary memory researchers agree that self-report instruments remain a fundamental method for investigating autobiographical memory phenomena. The present article focuses on two specific types of self-report instruments used in the field of autobiographical memory psychology: narrative tasks and questionnaires. The author carefully retraces the development of these instruments throughout the history of scientific psychology, paying particular attention to those most commonly used in contemporary cognitive psychology research. Finally, the findings of a recent methodological study investigating the relationship between narrative and questionnaire assessments of autobiographical memory are presented and critically discussed.
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References
Banks, M. V., & Salmon, K. (2013). Reasoning about the self in positive and negative ways: Relationship to psychological functioning in young adulthood. Memory, 21(1): 10–26.
Barsalou, L. W. (1988). The content and organization of autobiographical memories. In U. Neisser & E. Winograd (Eds.), Remembering reconsidered: Ecological and traditional approaches to the study of memory (pp. 193–243). Cambridge University Press.
Berntsen, D., Hoyle, R. H., & Rubin, D. C. (2019). The Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART): A measure of individual differences in autobiographical memory. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8(3): 305–318.
Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2006). The Centrality of Event Scale: A measure of integrating a trauma into one’s identity and its relation to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(2): 219–231.
Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T., & Rubin, D. C. (2005). A tale of three functions: The self-reported uses of autobiographical memory. Social Cognition, 23(1): 91–117.
Bluck, S., & Liao, H.-W. (2020). Anxiety after remembering stressful academic versus brush with death events: The moderating roles of future time perspective and personal intimacy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(1): 228–240.
Bohanek, J. G., Fivush, R., & Walker, E. (2005). Memories of positive and negative emotional events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(1): 51–66.
Boyd, R. L., Ashokkumar, A., Seraj, S., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2022). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC-22. The University of Texas at Austin. https://www.liwc.app
Brewer, W. F., & Schommer-Aikins, M. (2006). Scientists are not deficient in mental imagery: Galton revised. Review of General Psychology, 10(2): 130–146.
Congleton, A. R., & Berntsen, D. (2019). The assessment of autobiographical memory: An overview of behavioral methods. In H. Otani & B. L. Schwartz (eds.), Handbook of research methods in human memory. New York: Routledge, 267–283.
Conway, M. A. (1990). Autobiographical memory. An introduction. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Conway, M. A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 53(4): 594–628.
Galton, F. (1880). Statistics of mental imagery. Mind, 5(19): 301–318.
Galton, F. (1883). Inquiries into human faculty and its development. London: Macmillan and Co.
Gehrt, T. B., Berntsen, D., Hoyle, R. H., & Rubin, D. C. (2018). Psychological and clinical correlates of the Centrality of Event Scale: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 65: 57–80.
Gehrt, T. B., Nielsen, N. P., Hoyle, R. H., Rubin, D. C., & Berntsen, D. (2024). Measuring narrative identity: Rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches. Memory, 32(7): 863–873.
Gopi, Y., & Madan, C. R. (2024). Subjective memory measures: Metamemory questionnaires currently in use. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77(5): 924–942.
Henri, V., & Henri, C. (1897). Enquête sur les premiers souvenirs de l’enfance [A survey on the earliest memories of childhood]. L’Année Psychologique, 3: 184–198.
Johnson, M. K., Foley, M. A., Suengas, A. G., & Raye, C. L. (1988). Phenomenal characteristics of memories for perceived and imagined autobiographical events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117(4): 371–376.
Luchetti, M., & Sutin, A. R. (2018). Age differences in autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan: Older adults report stronger phenomenology. Memory, 26(1): 117–130.
Madan, C. R. (2024). Memories that matter: How we remember important things. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429032028
Maki, Y., Kawasaki, Y., Demiray, B., & Janssen, S. M. J. (2015). Autobiographical memory functions in young Japanese men and women. Memory, 23(1): 11–24.
McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7(4): 295–321.
McAdams, D. P. (2008). Personal narratives and the life story. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research. New York: Guilford Press, 3rd edition, 242–262.
McAdams, D. P., Bauer, J. J., Sakaeda, A. R., Anyidoho, N. A., Machado, M. A., Magrino-Failla, K., White, K. W., & Pals, J. L. (2006). Continuity and change in the life story: A longitudinal study of autobiographical memories in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality, 74(5): 1371–1400.
McAdams, D. P., Hoffman, B. J., Mansfield, E. D., & Day, R. (1996). Themes of agency and communion in significant autobiographical scenes. Journal of Personality, 64(2): 339–377.
McLean, K. C., & Fournier, M. A. (2008). The content and processes of autobiographical reasoning in narrative identity. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(3): 527–545.
McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., Greenhoot, A. F., & Fivush, R. (2017). Does intra-individual variability in narration matter and for what? Journal of Research in Personality, 69: 55–66.
McLean, K. C., Syed, M., Pasupathi, M., Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Drustrup, D., Fivush, R., Graci, M. E., Lilgendahl, J. P., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., & McCoy, T. P. (2020). The empirical structure of narrative identity: The initial Big Three. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(4): 920–944.
Merrill, N., Waters, T. E. A., & Fivush, R. (2016). Connecting the self to traumatic and positive events: Links to identity and well-being. Memory, 24(10): 1321–1328.
Pasupathi, M., Mansour, E., & Brubaker, J. R. (2007). Developing a life story: Constructing relations between self and experience in autobiographical narratives. Human Development, 50(2-3): 85–110.
Peace, K. A., & Porter, S. (2004). A longitudinal investigation of the reliability of memories for trauma and other emotional experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(9): 1143–1159.
Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. J., Boyd, R. L., & Francis, M. E. (2015). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: LIWC2015. Austin, TX: Pennebaker Conglomerates.
Porter, S., & Birt, A. R. (2001). Is traumatic memory special? A comparison of traumatic memory characteristics with memory for other emotional life experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15(7): S101–S117.
Rasmussen, A. S., & Berntsen, D. (2010). Personality traits and autobiographical memory: Openness is positively related to the experience and usage of recollections. Memory, 18(7): 774–786.
Reese, E., Haden, C. A., Baker-Ward, L., Bauer, P., Fivush, R., & Ornstein, P. A. (2011). Coherence of personal narratives across the lifespan: A multidimensional model and coding method. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12(4): 424–462.
Robinson, J. A. (1986). Autobiographical memory: A historical prologue. In D. C. Rubin (ed.), Autobiographical memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 19–24.
Rubin, D. C. (2005). Autobiographical memory tasks in cognitive research. In A. Wenzel & D. C. Rubin (eds.), Cognitive methods and their application to clinical research. American Psychological Association, 219–241.
Rubin, D. C. (2021). Properties of autobiographical memories are reliable and stable individual differences. Cognition, 210: 104583.
Rubin, D. C., Schrauf, R. W., & Greenberg, D. L. (2003). Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories. Memory & Cognition, 31(6): 887–901.
Smorti, A. (2020). Telling to understand. The impact of narrative on autobiographical memory. Cham: Springer.
Sotgiu, I. (2016). How do we remember happy life events? A comparison between eudaimonic and hedonic autobiographical memories. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 150(6): 685–703.
Sotgiu, I. (2019). Gender differences and similarities in autobiographical memory for eudaimonic happy events. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(5): 1457–1479.
Sotgiu, I. (2021). The psychology of autobiographical memory: History, theory, research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sotgiu, I., Consonni, S., & Marengo, D. (2025). Testing order effects in autobiographical memory research. Memory, 33(10): 1230–1241.
Sutin, A. R., & Robins, R. W. (2007). Phenomenology of autobiographical memories: The Memory Experiences Questionnaire. Memory, 15(4): 390–411.
Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1): 1–25.
Vannucci, M., Chiorri, C., & Marchetti, I. (2020). Shaping our personal past: Assessing the phenomenology of autobiographical memory and its association with object and spatial imagery. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61(5): 599–606.
Wardell, V., Madan, C. R., Jameson, T. J., Cocquyt, C. M., Checknita, K., Liu, H., & Palombo, D. J. (2021). How emotion influences the details recalled in autobiographical memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(6): 1454–1465.
Waters, T. E., Bauer, P. J., & Fivush, R. (2014). Autobiographical memory functions served by multiple event types. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2): 185–195.
Waters, T. E., Bohanek, J. G., Marin, K., & Fivush, R. (2013). Null’s the word: A comparison of memory quality for intensely negative and positive events. Memory, 21(6): 633–645.
Wolf, T. (2025). Using autobiographical memories for mood regulation: Validation of a new scale to complement the Thinking About Life Experiences questionnaire. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39(2): e70047.
Zambetti, E., & Sotgiu, I. (2023). Gioia e tristezza a confronto: uno studio sulla memoria autobiografica emozionale [Comparing joy and sadness: A study on the emotional autobiographical memory]. Ricerche di Psicologia, 46(4): 33–56.
Barsalou, L. W. (1988). The content and organization of autobiographical memories. In U. Neisser & E. Winograd (Eds.), Remembering reconsidered: Ecological and traditional approaches to the study of memory (pp. 193–243). Cambridge University Press.
Berntsen, D., Hoyle, R. H., & Rubin, D. C. (2019). The Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART): A measure of individual differences in autobiographical memory. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8(3): 305–318.
Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2006). The Centrality of Event Scale: A measure of integrating a trauma into one’s identity and its relation to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(2): 219–231.
Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T., & Rubin, D. C. (2005). A tale of three functions: The self-reported uses of autobiographical memory. Social Cognition, 23(1): 91–117.
Bluck, S., & Liao, H.-W. (2020). Anxiety after remembering stressful academic versus brush with death events: The moderating roles of future time perspective and personal intimacy. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(1): 228–240.
Bohanek, J. G., Fivush, R., & Walker, E. (2005). Memories of positive and negative emotional events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(1): 51–66.
Boyd, R. L., Ashokkumar, A., Seraj, S., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2022). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC-22. The University of Texas at Austin. https://www.liwc.app
Brewer, W. F., & Schommer-Aikins, M. (2006). Scientists are not deficient in mental imagery: Galton revised. Review of General Psychology, 10(2): 130–146.
Congleton, A. R., & Berntsen, D. (2019). The assessment of autobiographical memory: An overview of behavioral methods. In H. Otani & B. L. Schwartz (eds.), Handbook of research methods in human memory. New York: Routledge, 267–283.
Conway, M. A. (1990). Autobiographical memory. An introduction. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Conway, M. A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 53(4): 594–628.
Galton, F. (1880). Statistics of mental imagery. Mind, 5(19): 301–318.
Galton, F. (1883). Inquiries into human faculty and its development. London: Macmillan and Co.
Gehrt, T. B., Berntsen, D., Hoyle, R. H., & Rubin, D. C. (2018). Psychological and clinical correlates of the Centrality of Event Scale: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 65: 57–80.
Gehrt, T. B., Nielsen, N. P., Hoyle, R. H., Rubin, D. C., & Berntsen, D. (2024). Measuring narrative identity: Rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches. Memory, 32(7): 863–873.
Gopi, Y., & Madan, C. R. (2024). Subjective memory measures: Metamemory questionnaires currently in use. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77(5): 924–942.
Henri, V., & Henri, C. (1897). Enquête sur les premiers souvenirs de l’enfance [A survey on the earliest memories of childhood]. L’Année Psychologique, 3: 184–198.
Johnson, M. K., Foley, M. A., Suengas, A. G., & Raye, C. L. (1988). Phenomenal characteristics of memories for perceived and imagined autobiographical events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117(4): 371–376.
Luchetti, M., & Sutin, A. R. (2018). Age differences in autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan: Older adults report stronger phenomenology. Memory, 26(1): 117–130.
Madan, C. R. (2024). Memories that matter: How we remember important things. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429032028
Maki, Y., Kawasaki, Y., Demiray, B., & Janssen, S. M. J. (2015). Autobiographical memory functions in young Japanese men and women. Memory, 23(1): 11–24.
McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7(4): 295–321.
McAdams, D. P. (2008). Personal narratives and the life story. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research. New York: Guilford Press, 3rd edition, 242–262.
McAdams, D. P., Bauer, J. J., Sakaeda, A. R., Anyidoho, N. A., Machado, M. A., Magrino-Failla, K., White, K. W., & Pals, J. L. (2006). Continuity and change in the life story: A longitudinal study of autobiographical memories in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality, 74(5): 1371–1400.
McAdams, D. P., Hoffman, B. J., Mansfield, E. D., & Day, R. (1996). Themes of agency and communion in significant autobiographical scenes. Journal of Personality, 64(2): 339–377.
McLean, K. C., & Fournier, M. A. (2008). The content and processes of autobiographical reasoning in narrative identity. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(3): 527–545.
McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., Greenhoot, A. F., & Fivush, R. (2017). Does intra-individual variability in narration matter and for what? Journal of Research in Personality, 69: 55–66.
McLean, K. C., Syed, M., Pasupathi, M., Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Drustrup, D., Fivush, R., Graci, M. E., Lilgendahl, J. P., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., & McCoy, T. P. (2020). The empirical structure of narrative identity: The initial Big Three. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(4): 920–944.
Merrill, N., Waters, T. E. A., & Fivush, R. (2016). Connecting the self to traumatic and positive events: Links to identity and well-being. Memory, 24(10): 1321–1328.
Pasupathi, M., Mansour, E., & Brubaker, J. R. (2007). Developing a life story: Constructing relations between self and experience in autobiographical narratives. Human Development, 50(2-3): 85–110.
Peace, K. A., & Porter, S. (2004). A longitudinal investigation of the reliability of memories for trauma and other emotional experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(9): 1143–1159.
Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. J., Boyd, R. L., & Francis, M. E. (2015). Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: LIWC2015. Austin, TX: Pennebaker Conglomerates.
Porter, S., & Birt, A. R. (2001). Is traumatic memory special? A comparison of traumatic memory characteristics with memory for other emotional life experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15(7): S101–S117.
Rasmussen, A. S., & Berntsen, D. (2010). Personality traits and autobiographical memory: Openness is positively related to the experience and usage of recollections. Memory, 18(7): 774–786.
Reese, E., Haden, C. A., Baker-Ward, L., Bauer, P., Fivush, R., & Ornstein, P. A. (2011). Coherence of personal narratives across the lifespan: A multidimensional model and coding method. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12(4): 424–462.
Robinson, J. A. (1986). Autobiographical memory: A historical prologue. In D. C. Rubin (ed.), Autobiographical memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 19–24.
Rubin, D. C. (2005). Autobiographical memory tasks in cognitive research. In A. Wenzel & D. C. Rubin (eds.), Cognitive methods and their application to clinical research. American Psychological Association, 219–241.
Rubin, D. C. (2021). Properties of autobiographical memories are reliable and stable individual differences. Cognition, 210: 104583.
Rubin, D. C., Schrauf, R. W., & Greenberg, D. L. (2003). Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories. Memory & Cognition, 31(6): 887–901.
Smorti, A. (2020). Telling to understand. The impact of narrative on autobiographical memory. Cham: Springer.
Sotgiu, I. (2016). How do we remember happy life events? A comparison between eudaimonic and hedonic autobiographical memories. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 150(6): 685–703.
Sotgiu, I. (2019). Gender differences and similarities in autobiographical memory for eudaimonic happy events. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(5): 1457–1479.
Sotgiu, I. (2021). The psychology of autobiographical memory: History, theory, research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sotgiu, I., Consonni, S., & Marengo, D. (2025). Testing order effects in autobiographical memory research. Memory, 33(10): 1230–1241.
Sutin, A. R., & Robins, R. W. (2007). Phenomenology of autobiographical memories: The Memory Experiences Questionnaire. Memory, 15(4): 390–411.
Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1): 1–25.
Vannucci, M., Chiorri, C., & Marchetti, I. (2020). Shaping our personal past: Assessing the phenomenology of autobiographical memory and its association with object and spatial imagery. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61(5): 599–606.
Wardell, V., Madan, C. R., Jameson, T. J., Cocquyt, C. M., Checknita, K., Liu, H., & Palombo, D. J. (2021). How emotion influences the details recalled in autobiographical memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(6): 1454–1465.
Waters, T. E., Bauer, P. J., & Fivush, R. (2014). Autobiographical memory functions served by multiple event types. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2): 185–195.
Waters, T. E., Bohanek, J. G., Marin, K., & Fivush, R. (2013). Null’s the word: A comparison of memory quality for intensely negative and positive events. Memory, 21(6): 633–645.
Wolf, T. (2025). Using autobiographical memories for mood regulation: Validation of a new scale to complement the Thinking About Life Experiences questionnaire. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39(2): e70047.
Zambetti, E., & Sotgiu, I. (2023). Gioia e tristezza a confronto: uno studio sulla memoria autobiografica emozionale [Comparing joy and sadness: A study on the emotional autobiographical memory]. Ricerche di Psicologia, 46(4): 33–56.
Published
2026-05-01
How to Cite
Sotgiu, I. (2026). Methodological Aspects in the Study of Autobiographical Memory. Critical Hermeneutics, 10(special), 19-39. https://doi.org/10.13125/CH/6962
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Articles
Copyright (c) 2026 Igor Sotgiu
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