Autobiographical Memory in Adolescents (Minnesota)
Once upon a time, in the land of 10,000 lakes, Dr. Patricia Bauer and her colleagues conducted a memory study that was called “Monster” not because it was so scary but because almost 400 families took part in that research project. These families came to the Cognition in Transition Laboratory at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota when children were either 13, 16, or 20 months of age. Children had a chance to learn and remember brief activities, like making a gong or making a rattle. They then visited the lab again at the age of 3˝, and some families visited the lab one more time, when children were in kindergarten or elementary school. As a result of their heroic participation, we learned a great deal about early memory development.
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We are very excited to report about the recent follow-up of this project. In fall 2008, we invited "Monster" families to participate in a new study about adolescents’ memory called "Autobiographical Memory in Adolescents." Using a web-based survey, 77 adolescents shared some of their past and present memories with us. Specifically, adolescents wrote about 6 personal memories: two of their earliest memories, 2 memories that involved positive experiences, and 2 memories about negatively charged events. We already finished collecting adolescents’ memories and have started examining narratives and analyzing data.
Researchers rarely have the opportunity to relate memory over such a long period of time. That makes this a very unique and exciting possibility.
We are delighted to tell you about that some mothers of our adolescent participants also took part in this study and told us about their own past experiences. We are eager to start to explore possible links between the kinds of memories that adolescents have and the kinds of memories mothers have. Including mothers’ stories about their early memories in our study allow us to answer even more questions about how autobiographical memory develops over the lifespan. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to examine memory from two generations! To our knowledge, this approach has never been taken, and it stands to tell us a great deal about memory and its development.
Our special thanks to all the families who made this study possible and for their dedication to this amazing longitudinal project!
If you have any questions, please contact Marina Larkina at mlarki2@emory.edu.