The use of autobiographical knowledge in age estimation

Event dates are not directly associated with memories, so the processes by which we maintain a sense of time and sequence in our autobiographical memories is of considerable interest. The present study examined participants' reported age estimation strategies for childhood memories retrieved using a Galton-Crovitz cueing technique. The results indicate that all three categories of autobiographical knowledge in Conway and Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) self-memory system modellifetime periods, general events, and event-specific detailssupport temporal inferences. However, participants most frequently used lifetime period knowledge to provide an initial age range, and event-specific knowledge was used to confirm or narrow the range of their estimated age.