Correlates and Phenomenology of 1st and 3rd Person Memories

摘要

The present research addressed fundamental questions about the visual perspective of autobiographical memories: Are stable personality characteristics associated with visual perspective? Does visual perspective influence the memory's phenomenological qualities? Participants in Study 1 (N = 1,684) completed individual-difference measures and indicated the perspective from which they generally retrieve memories. Participants in Study 2 (N = 706) retrieved a memory from their natural or manipulated perspective, rated its phenomenology, and completed the same individual-difference measures. Dissociation and anxiety were associated with 3^rd person retrieval style; the Big Five personality traits were primarily unrelated to perspective. Compared to 3^rd person memories, naturally-occurring 1^st person memories were higher on Vividness, Coherence, Accessibility, Sensory Detail, Emotional Intensity, and Time Perspective and lower on Distancing; manipulating perspective eliminated these differences. Visual perspective is associated with clinically-relevant constructs and, although associated with the memory's phenomenology, perspective does not shape it.