Context models, autobiographical memory and interaction

Poster presentation: Context models, autobiographical memory and interaction

Conference: Theoretical Perspectives on Autobiographical Memory

When: 13-16 June

Where: Department of Psychology, Aarhus University

Abstract

Autobiographical memory guarantees the ability to maintain both a coherent awareness of one's self over time and a consistent feeling of identity. It also functions to structure the shareable life story of a people. Self-narratives are the most natural cultural resources for reconstructing autobiographical memories. Self-narratives are created in accordance with cognitive representations of the context (context models) that control the ways of representing oneself in relation to the environment.

Context models sustain a coherent and consistent self-positioning in practices of autobiographical remembering. They regulate processes of coordination and synchronization in social interactions. They are continually reshaping throughout the verbal interaction depending on the speaker’s specific goals. The aim of this paper is to show the ways in which context models sustain a coherent and consistent self-positioning and are the key to understand how autobiographical memory and interaction are interlocked in autobiographical narratives in real world settings.