Reminiscence and autobiographical memory in the study of the personal past.

This study investigated adult age differences in memory for past personal experiences. Young, middle-aged, and older adults participated in an autobiographical memory task in which they were presented with word prompts and asked to report the first specific personal memory that came to mind. They also completed a reminiscence questionnaire and a measure of current well-being, the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale (ABS). The autobiographical memory data revealed significant increases across the three age groups in both the average time taken to respond to prompt words and the average "age" of reported memories. Age differences in reminiscence also were found. The hypothesis that persons who actively reminisce would respond more quickly and with more remote memories in the autobiographical memory task was not supported. Implications of this data for understanding the cognitive and functional aspects of personal memory are discussed.