The development and validation of the EAMI as an assessment of episodic autobiographical recall

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the development and validation of a new measure of episodic autobiographical memory, in line with current conceptual revisions to the concept of episodic memory (Tulving, 2002), which see episodic memory as being defined, at least in part, by the accompanying conscious awareness or autonoesis, during retrieval. It is clear that in many cases, there has been a failure to embrace this conceptual advancement, with typical episodic memory tasks consisting of verbal learning paradigms that invariably bypass the intrinsic nature of what exactly constitutes episodic memory, namely the subjective recollective experience. Chapter 1 presents an exhaustive critical review of currently available measures of ABM assessment in order to identify common themes and potential limitations of such tests. Based on this approach, it was argued that many of the current measures purporting to assess episodic memory particularly within the domain of autobiographical memory fall short where the investigation of the autonoetic experience is concerned. The EAMI (Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview) represents a concerted effort to develop a conceptually and methodologically rigorous assessment in order to redress many of the controversies and inconsistencies in this area.