The me in memory: The role of the self in autobiographical memory development

TY - JOUR

T1 - The me in memory

T2 - The role of the self in autobiographical memory development

AU - Ross, Josephine

AU - Hutchison, Jacqui

AU - Cunningham, Sheila J.

N1 - This research was supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (2014‐310) held jointly by Josephine Ross and Sheila J. Cunningham, and employing the Jacqui Hutchison as a postdoctoral researcher

PY - 2020/3/6

Y1 - 2020/3/6

N2 - This article tests the hypothesis that self-development plays a role in the offset of childhood amnesia; assessing the importance of both the capacity to anchor a memory to the self-concept, and the strength of the self-concept as an anchor. This research demonstrates for the first time that the volume of 3- to 6-year old's specific autobiographical memories is predicted by both the volume of their self-knowledge, and their capacity for self-source monitoring within self-referencing paradigms (N = 186). Moreover, there is a bidirectional relation between self and memory, such that autobiographical memory mediates the link between self-source monitoring and self-knowledge. These predictive relations suggest that the self-memory system is active in early childhood.

AB - This article tests the hypothesis that self-development plays a role in the offset of childhood amnesia; assessing the importance of both the capacity to anchor a memory to the self-concept, and the strength of the self-concept as an anchor. This research demonstrates for the first time that the volume of 3- to 6-year old's specific autobiographical memories is predicted by both the volume of their self-knowledge, and their capacity for self-source monitoring within self-referencing paradigms (N = 186). Moreover, there is a bidirectional relation between self and memory, such that autobiographical memory mediates the link between self-source monitoring and self-knowledge. These predictive relations suggest that the self-memory system is active in early childhood.

KW - Autobiographical memory

KW - self memory system

KW - childhood amnesia

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85060177241

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.13211

DO - 10.1111/cdev.13211

M3 - Article

C2 - 30644537

SN - 0009-3920

VL - 91

SP - e299-e314

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 2

ER -