Abstract
This study examines the characteristics of memories over long retention intervals with respect to autobiographical reasoning. A total of 641 participants, consisting of 315 undergraduate students, 166 school teachers, and 160 elderly adults, remembered an autobiographical memory relating to communication with teachers when they were junior-high-school students. Then, the participants were asked to rate 45 items, including 38 items from the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire, about autobiographical reasoning and memory characteristics. University students who had highly motivated orientation towards the teaching profession showed more autobiographical reasoning; they connected past events with their present selves and remembered the events as referential points. In addition, they remembered vivid and detailed memories. The elderly participants showed more autobiographical reasoning than younger participants and remembered more vivid and detailed memories. Positive events elicited more autobiographical reasoning than negative events. These results are mainly discussed in terms of aging and the emotional aspects of autobiographical reasoning. It is necessary to further explore autobiographical reasoning as it relates to everyday events.
