ABSTRACT
Over the course of 10 chapters, I have reviewed much of the empirical, scientific literature that bears on the question of how we remember the times of their lives. The “times of our lives” have been defined as autobiographical memories or memories of specific past events that are relevant or significant to one’s self. The story I have told has included “chapters” on how we begin to remember and on the shape that remembering takes in the healthy adult. I have approached the phenomenon of autobiographical memory and its development from different levels of analysis, ranging from the neural structures that are implicated in the act of remembering to cultural variations in autobiography in children and adults. I also have introduced multiple different explanations that have been offered to account for one of the most enigmatic “black holes” in adults’ memories-namely, the phenomenon of childhood amnesia. In this final chapter, I bring together the different strands of the story. The aim is to provide a conceptualization of the development of autobiographical memory that acknowledges the multiple factors that contribute to it, and that provides a reasonable account of both the normative trends that are apparent as well as the individual and group differences.
