The characteristics of autobiographical memory for purchases: In terms of their temporal distribution and positivity effects in younger and older adults

Abstract

This study investigates the characteristics of autobiographical memory for purchases within younger and older adults using a questionnaire that includes items from the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (MCQ). The most memorable event concerning a purchase was chosen by each participant. The characteristics of the remembered events were mainly examined in terms of the participants' age and the retention intervals. The data from 394 undergraduates, as the younger participants (18–27 years), and 207 students at a senior college, as the older participants (55–87 years), were analyzed. The results indicate that the most memorable events for younger participants were likely to be from a recent period of several years. The older participants did not always remember purchase events from the period extending from the age of 10 years to 30 years; thus, a reminiscence bump was not observed. Moreover, positively-recognized events were more frequently remembered by both younger and older participants; thus, the assumption that positivity effects can only be found in older adults was not confirmed. These findings are interpreted with respect to the Self-Memory System (Conway, 2005) and the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen, 2006).View full abstract