Enhanced episodic specificity and socioemotional content in older adults’ everyday autobiographical thoughts

Abstract

Cognitive aging research has long observed that older adults’ autobiographical memories and future thoughts, as assessed in laboratory contexts, lack spatiotemporal detail compared to young adults. Does this pattern also hold in everyday contexts? Across two studies, we examined characteristics of autobiographical thinking in real-world settings using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Study 1 included an adult lifespan sample (N = 3,847). Study 2 (preregistered) included 217 young and older adults whose autobiographical memories were also assessed with a traditional lab-based interview. Contrary to lab-based findings commonly reported in the literature, older adults across both studies reported more episodic specificity in their everyday autobiographical thoughts than younger adults, as well as shifts toward positive and social focus rather than on the self. Linguistic analyses validated self-report data, revealing greater concreteness and perceptual detail with increasing age. Together, these findings highlight discrepancies between measurement approaches in autobiographical thinking in older age, emphasizing the significance of motivational and contextual factors in its study.