This chapter is organized in three major sections. A brief review of our previous research is presented first. Next, new findings regarding the nature of self-selected events and memory for those events are reported. This section is based on the diaries of four women who kept written records of memorable daily events. Two recognition-memory posttests were given following 2 weeks of record keeping. On each posttest, original records were presented for verification, together with foil items. Foils derived from the participants' actual records were designed to show that the meaning of daily events is preserved in personal memories. This section includes an ethnographic-type description of self-selected daily events and activities. The accidental and tragic death of the parent of one of these women unfortunately occurred during data collection. Because she and another participant were both keeping records at the time of the accident, we were able to investigate the impact of a highly significant life experience on memory for everyday events in a controlled case study.

Introduction

The content of much human cognition is represented as a rich collection of autobiographical memories. Certainly, some of these memories are of formative life experiences, although many more appear as insignificant happenings. If these seemingly unimportant, ordinary everyday memories are considered alone, or isolated from the mosaic of one's personal recollections, they may be interpreted as trivial fragments of the past, but in the context, flow, and rhythm of daily life they become the fabric of a self-knowledge system.