Recall of Social Events with the Passage of Time

Abstract

Husbands and wives were interviewed separately and asked specific questions about social events experienced together in years past, e.g., occasions that they had celebrated and trips that they had taken. 7hese couples, to a reasonable degree, remembered and agreed about events occurring within 12 months of the interview, but their performance deteriorated sharply when the events occurred earlier in time. Findings are discussed in terms of the role that recall (or the lack of it)plays in the distortion of "remembrances of things past."