Do People Remember The Temporal Proximity Of Unrelated Events?
Abstract
In the present study, we tested the ability to remember the temporal proximity of two unrelated events that had happened within 7 days of one another. In three experiments, 1,909 participants judged whether pairs of news events, ranging in age from 1 month to about 6 years, had occurred within a week of each other and, if not, how far apart they had occurred. Some event pairs were related, and others were unrelated. For unrelated event pairs, same-week and separation judgments were very poor. Accuracy was much greater for both kinds of judgments when the events were related. Participants often guessed the separation of unrelated event pairs, whereas they frequently deduced the separation or remembered the proximity of related event pairs. For both types of pairs, the participants reported using the strength of the memories or the general period in which the events had occurred.
Repository Citation
Friedman, William J., and Steve M. J. Janssen. 2010. "Do People Remember The Temporal Proximity Of Unrelated Events?." Memory & Cognition 38(8): 1122-1136.
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Publication Date
12-1-2010
Publication Title
Memory & Cognition
Department
Psychology
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.8.1122
Keywords
Long-term-memory, Autobiographical memory, Reminiscence bump, Adult neurogenesis, Flashbulb memories
Language
English
Format
text
