The reminiscence bump without memories: The distribution of imagined word-cued and important autobiographical memories in a hypothetical 70-year-old

Brazilian Life Scripts: Reminiscence Bump Location and Characteristics of Life Events

Abstract The life script construct refers to the semantic knowledge shared by individuals from a given culture and reflects the expectations about when specific events are supposed to happen. This study aimed to identify whether a life script for Brazilian culture and its characteristics exists. Three hundred and eighty-four participants reported the seven most important events in the life of a hypothetical newborn of their same gender and culture. For each event, they informed an estimate of age and levels of importance, prevalence, and valence. Our results showed that most of the events cited were considered positive and expected to happen before age 30. The ages from 15 to 30 had the most positive events (51.9%). Events before age 15 were rated as more prevalent and important. The results are discussed as representations of lifetime development benchmarks within the Brazilian population and compared to other countries’ data on life scripts.

Understanding the reminiscence bump: A systematic review

One of the most consistently observed phenomena in autobiographical memory research is the reminiscence bump: a tendency for middle-aged and elderly people to access more personal memories from approximately 10-30 years of age. This systematic review (PROSPERO 2017:CRD42017076695) aimed to synthesize peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the reminiscence bump. The researchers conducted searches in nine databases for studies published between the date of inception of each database and the year 2017. Keywords used included: reminiscence, bump, peak, surge, blip, reminiscence effect, and reminiscence component. Sixty-eight quantitative studies, out of 523, met the inclusion criteria. The researchers implemented a thematic analytic technique for data extraction. Four main themes were generated: methods of memory activation/instruction for life scripts, types of memory/life scripts recalled, location of the reminiscence bump, and theoretical accounts for the bump. The two prevailing methods of memory activation implemented were the cuing method and important memories method. Three types of memories/life scripts were recalled: personal/autobiographical memory, memories for public events, and life script events. The findings illustrate differing temporal periods for the bump: approximately 10-30 years for memories for important events, approximately 5-30 years for memories that were induced by word cues, and 6-39 years for studies using life scripts. In explaining the bump, the narrative/identity account and cultural life script account received the most support.

Are semantic and episodic autobiographical memories influenced by the life period remembered? Comparison of young and older adults

Autobiographical memory consists of a person's personal history and contributes to building a feeling of identity and continuity. Aging affects episodic autobiographical memory negatively, whereas semantic autobiographical memory is preserved or even enhanced in older adults. The study aim was to analyze whether these hypotheses continue to find support, or if there are differences when these memories are analyzed according to the components of life cycle retrieval. The sample was composed of 151 participants: 78 young and 73 older adults. Subjects were evaluated with the Autobiographical Memory Interview. A mixed ANOVA was performed for semantic memory with two groups and three life periods (childhood, youth-adulthood, and recent life). The main group effect was not significant, but the effects of the life period and the life period × group interaction were significant. When analyzing episodic memory, the main effects of the life period and group were significant, but their interaction was not. Young people have better episodic memory than older adults, and they show a similar episodic memory pattern during the three life periods evaluated. The semantic memory of the older adults is preserved, and the reminiscence bump and recent life scores are similar in both groups.