ORBi: Are Recent Memories and Those From the Reminiscence Bump Anchors for the Overall Subjective Quality of Autobiographical Memories? - 2026

Article (Scientific journals)

Are Recent Memories and Those From the Reminiscence Bump Anchors for the Overall Subjective Quality of Autobiographical Memories?

Billet, Maud; Geurten, Marie; Willems, Sylvie

2026 • In Applied Cognitive Psychology, 40 (1)

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/339796

DOI
10.1002/acp.70154

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Keywords :

Autobiographical memory; Phenomenology; Recollective experience; Self-assessment memory questionnaire; Subjective remembering

Abstract :

[en] This study explores the differences between the phenomenology of memories from early adulthood and those from the last year and whether memories from these two periods predict the general sense of remembering as a function of age. In this study, 291 healthy participants aged from 31 to 80 years assessed the phenomenology of their autobiographical memories through seven factors (vividness, coherence, reliving, rehearsal, scene, visual imagery, and life story relevance) in an online questionnaire, first in a general way and then for the two periods of interest (i.e., from 18 to 30 years and the last year). Global linear models revealed that the phenomenology of recent memories is higher than the phenomenology of memories from 18 to 30 years of age. However, individuals preferentially refer to these remote memories rather than recent ones to determine the overall phenomenology of their autobiographical memories.

Disciplines :

Theoretical & cognitive psychology

Author, co-author :

Billet, Maud ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Neuropsychologie de l'adulte ; Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.‐FNRS) Bruxelles Belgium

Geurten, Marie ^✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Neuropsychologie de l'adulte ; Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.‐FNRS) Bruxelles Belgium

Willems, Sylvie ^✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Psychologie et Neuroscience Cognitives (PsyNCog)

^✱ These authors have contributed equally to this work.

Language :

English

Title :

Are Recent Memories and Those From the Reminiscence Bump Anchors for the Overall Subjective Quality of Autobiographical Memories?

Publication date :

January 2026

Journal title :

Applied Cognitive Psychology

ISSN :

0888-4080

eISSN :

1099-0720

Publisher :

Wiley

Volume :

40

Issue :

1

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/acp.70154

Available on ORBi :

since 14 January 2026

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