Abstract
There have recently been growing interests in involuntary autobiographical memory, which is the memory of personal experiences that pops into one’s mind without a conscious attempt at retrieval. This study investigated the functions of involuntary autobiographical memory cued by odor. Three hundred thirteen undergraduates were instructed to record the contents of everyday involuntary autobiographical memories that were retrieved by odor-cues and to describe the effects of these memories on their thoughts and actions in the current situation. A total of 289 involuntary memories were classified based on whether they specifically have a self, other, or directive function. Among these memories, 62.40% had a directive function. Additionally, new categories (e.g., action, nostalgia, emotional shift) of the functions of these memories were revealed through the KJ method. These findings suggest that involuntary autobiographical memories cued by odor have unique functions compared to other memories.
