Department
Psychological Science
Major
Psychology
Research Advisor
Belfi, Amy M.
Advisor's Department
Psychological Science
Abstract
Music has the power to take us back in time. Previous research indicates that music is a potent autobiographical memory cue, and that recall often happens with no effort on the part of the listener. Our research is also informed by the reminiscence bump phenomenon, which describes the tendency of older adults to recall autobiographical memories formed from the ages of 18-35. Informed by this phenomenon, we presented older participants with stimuli that were relevant during their youth. We displayed different stimuli to younger and older adult participants on a desktop computer. The stimuli we presented were popular music clips, movie scenes , celebrity faces, and a verbal memory prompt. If participants experienced a spontaneous autobiographical memory recall during one of these 15-second trials, then we recorded their reaction time and their verbal narrative of the memory. After the experiment, the memories are transcribed and assessed for detail quality. By comparing the details of memories provided by younger and older adults, we hope to illustrate any differences that exist between the experience of memory in these different age groups.
Biography
Akira is a sophomore at S& T who started research involvement through the Summer Scholars program in June of 2023. She hopes to go on to graduate school and pursue a career in psychological or neuroscientific research and is specifically passionate about improving the criminal justice system. In this experiment, Akira was most involved with the transcribing of memory recordings and the assessment of detail quality using a standardized framework for scoring/operationalizing recollected autobiographical memories.
Research Category
Social Sciences
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Award
Social Sciences Poster Session - First Place
Location
Innovation Forum - 1st Floor Innovation Lab
Presentation Date
10 April 2024, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Comparing autobiographical memories evoked by different sensory cues for younger and older adults
Innovation Forum - 1st Floor Innovation Lab
Music has the power to take us back in time. Previous research indicates that music is a potent autobiographical memory cue, and that recall often happens with no effort on the part of the listener. Our research is also informed by the reminiscence bump phenomenon, which describes the tendency of older adults to recall autobiographical memories formed from the ages of 18-35. Informed by this phenomenon, we presented older participants with stimuli that were relevant during their youth. We displayed different stimuli to younger and older adult participants on a desktop computer. The stimuli we presented were popular music clips, movie scenes , celebrity faces, and a verbal memory prompt. If participants experienced a spontaneous autobiographical memory recall during one of these 15-second trials, then we recorded their reaction time and their verbal narrative of the memory. After the experiment, the memories are transcribed and assessed for detail quality. By comparing the details of memories provided by younger and older adults, we hope to illustrate any differences that exist between the experience of memory in these different age groups.
