Personal Memories and Imagery. A Study of Autobiographical Memory through Drawing

The present study investigates autobiographical memory through the use of imagery and a short narrative. A sample of 72 young adults, residing in Italy, were asked to draw a meaningful memory (and to choose a title for it) about their infancy, childhood, pre-adolescence and adolescence. Through the use of special markers, a qualitative-quantitative analysis of the drawings was carried out. The results made it possible to highlight the different elements that gave shape to the Self in a particular period, leaving traces in memory: specific social references, emotions and moods, places, actions, achievements and personal objects.

[1]  David C. Rubin,et al.  The Neuropsychology of Autobiographical Memory , 2003, Cortex.

[2]  Stephen M. Kosslyn,et al.  Ghosts in the mind's machine: Creating and using images in the brain , 1983 .

[3]  Jerome S. Bruner,et al.  A Narrative Model of Self‐Construction , 1997, Psyke & Logos.

[4]  A. Paivio Imagery and verbal processes , 1972 .

[5]  David C. Rubin,et al.  Autobiographical Memory , 2019, Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

[6]  Michael Conway,et al.  Subjective impact, meaning making, and current and recalled emotions for self-defining memories. , 2006, Journal of personality.

[7]  Jacob Cohen A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales , 1960 .

[8]  Urie Bronfenbrenner,et al.  The Bioecological Model of Human Development , 2007 .

[9]  Nicola S. Clayton,et al.  Episodic Memory , 2019, Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior.

[10]  E. Crone The Adolescent Brain: Changes in learning, decision-making and social relations , 2016 .

[11]  Jerome S. Bruner,et al.  Self-making and world-making , 1991 .

[12]  E. Tulving Origin of autonoesis in episodic memory. , 2001 .

[13]  J. A. Robinson,et al.  Autobiographical memory: The next phase , 1990 .

[14]  R. Cabeza,et al.  Functional neuroimaging of autobiographical memory , 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[15]  Martin A. Conway,et al.  Remembering, imagining, false memories & personal meanings , 2015, Consciousness and Cognition.

[16]  D. Winnicott,et al.  Collected Papers: Through Paediatrics to Psycho-Analysis , 1959 .

[17]  Jennifer M. Talarico,et al.  Emotional intensity predicts autobiographical memory experience , 2004, Memory & cognition.

[18]  D. Rubin,et al.  The Structure of Autobiographical Memory , 2019, Theories of Memory.