The organisational role of the self in autobiographical memory

Dr Clare Rathbone, Oxford Brookes University.

Clare Rathbone is an Associate Professor in Psychology at Oxford Brookes University. She obtained her PhD at the University of Leeds in 2010, working with Chris Moulin and Martin Conway. Her research interests include the role of the self in autobiographical memory and future thinking, as well as memory in clinical populations.

Brief abstract:

The relationship between autobiographical memory and the self is underpinned by a range of cognitive processes. In this talk I will present a set of studies (spanning healthy ageing, dementia and amnesia) supporting the view that autobiographical memories and imagined future events are organised around periods that have particular relevance for the self. Results also suggest that semantic, rather than episodic, autobiographical memories play a key role in supporting self-knowledge – a finding that has important implications for various clinical groups.