All attempts at a scientific explanation of human behavior are ambitious. This book is no exception. Consider the challenge. A complete understanding of autobiographical memory would require: a knowledge of basic memory processes in the individual as well as of the influences of the society in which the individual lives; a knowledge of memory processes in the individual at one age and time as well as of the effects of changes in development and environment over a lifetime; a knowledge of the intact as well as of the impaired individual; a knowledge of cognition as well as of affect. This book is an attempt to begin meeting this challenge. Together the chapters represent a set of interwoven interests. Each chapter views autobiographical memory from a different perspective, but shares with the others a common approach that encourages the free exchange of ideas.

Recurring themes

Phenomenological reports as data

Several themes run through the book. One is a heavy reliance on phenomenological reports. Brewer (Chap. 3), for instance, makes explicit his claim that phenomenological reports are data that must be accounted for in the same sense as more objective measures, such as amount recalled or reaction time. In order to begin formulating theories of autobiographical memory, Linton (Chap. 4) considers her own process of recall; Neisser (Chap. 5) makes a basic distinction between descriptions of occurrences and the awareness of those occurrences; and Reiser, Black, and Kalamarides (Chap. 7) analyze what their subjects have to say about their process of recall.