Non-episodic autobiographical memory details reflect attempts to tell a good story

A persistent finding in the autobiographical memory (AM) literature is that older adults report more non-episodic (or generalised/semantic) information than young adults. Since studies are usually focused on memory for episodic (or specific) autobiographical events, the reason for the increase in non-episodic AM remains under-studied. This experiment investigated whether increased non-episodic AM in older adults reflects (a) an age-related shift in communicative preferences, or (b) a sign of cognitive decline, by way of either an inhibition deficit or as a means of compensating for a deficit in episodic AM. A sample of 55 young and older participants retrieved the same AM twice, under two different sets of instructions: to tell a good story for their autobiography, or to provide a detailed police witness statement. Both groups reported more general details when they were aiming to tell a good story, but the difference was greater for older adults. In addition, older adults also reported fewer specific details when the aim was to tell a good story. In a separate rating task, young and older adults differed in their perceptions of what makes a good story; young adults rated ‘detail’, ‘grammar’, and ‘full descriptions’ more highly than older adults, whereas older rated ‘linking ideas’ and ‘explaining not just describing’ more highly than young adults. The results suggest that age-related increases in general AM might be explained by a shift in communicative preferences rather than cognitive decline.