The Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART): A Measure of Individual Differences in Autobiographical Memory

Publication date: Available online 26 July 2019Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and CognitionAuthor(s): Dorthe Berntsen, Rick H. Hoyle, David C. RubinWe introduce the Autobiographical Recollection Test (ART) to examine individual differences in how well people think they remember personal events. The ART comprises seven theoretically motivated, empirically supported, interrelated aspects of recollecting autobiographical memories: reliving, vividness, visual imagery, scene, narrative coherence, life-story relevance, and rehearsal. Desirable psychometric properties of the ART are established by confirmatory factor analyses demonstrating that items probing each of the seven components form well-defined, yet highly correlated, factors that are indicators of a single underlying second-order factor. The ART shows high test-retest reliability over delays averaging three weeks and correlates meaningfully with a test of different categories of memory. Overall, the findings document that autobiographical recollection is a dimension that varies among individuals. The ART forms a reliable and easily administered autobiographical memory test that will help to integrate autobiographical memory research with fields generally concerned with individual differences, such as health and personality psychology.
Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research