ABSTRACT
To this point we have considered memory for the properties that characterize the content of individual, single episodes. In some ways, our approach is conceptually similar to traditional laboratory research in which words presented to a subject and later used in a memory test make up an experimental episode. However, at least two important differences exist between laboratory and naturalistic memory research. First, personal memories concern natural, meaningful events. Second, memory for these events includes information indicating that the individual who now remembers them was also present to experience them originally. Thus, unlike items in the typical list-learning experiment, personal memories have autobiographical reference (Tulving, 1972) or self-reference (Brewer, 1986; Nelson, 1993).
