Autobiographical Remembering: An Integrative Approach

Abstract

Many theories of autobiographieal memory have relied on a specific combination of retrieval conditions: initial retrieval is intentional; the tests are direct; and, there is an awareness of the source of the information. In this paper, we diseuss how these conditions restrict the application of theories, utilizing concepts that are currently in debate within more traditional fields of memory research. We provide examples of autobiographical memory retrieval in a naturalisite setting and discuss how current theories cannot be generalised 10 these spontaneous eonditions of retrieval.