Narrative Identity and Autobiographical Memory

Narrative identity refers to the internalised story that individuals construct to give their lives unity and purpose. It emerges from the selective recollection and organisation of autobiographical memories—personal experiences that are encoded, stored and retrieved to support one’s sense of self. Autobiographical memory comprises both episodic elements (specific events situated in time and place) and semantic elements (general facts about one’s life), which interact within a self-memory system to shape identity and guide future behaviour. Two core features of autobiographical recollection are memory specificity—the capacity to recall distinct, details-rich episodes—and narrative coherence—the ability to weave those details into a structured, causally linked account. Research has shown that well-integrated, coherent narratives foster psychological well-being, social connectedness and adaptive coping, whereas disrupted or overly fragmented narratives are associated with rumination, depressive symptoms and identity disturbances. This field spans developmental trajectories, clinical populations and cross-cultural comparisons, revealing that narrative identity is both a universal human faculty and one that is moulded by context, culture and cognitive capacities.

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Narrative Identity and Autobiographical Memory publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in narrative identity and autobiographical memory across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Narrative identity: The evolving internal story of an individual’s life, integrating past events into a coherent self-concept.
Autobiographical memory: Memory system encompassing personal experiences (episodic) and general life knowledge (semantic).
Memory specificity: The degree to which recalled autobiographical memories are detailed, singular events rather than generalised summaries.
Narrative coherence: The extent to which a personal narrative is organised with a clear temporal structure, causal links and thematic resolution.

References

1. Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory and Everyday Memory during Late Childhood and Early Adolescence. Frontiers in Psychology (2012).
2. The Importance of Memory Specificity and Memory Coherence for the Self: Linking Two Characteristics of Autobiographical Memory. Frontiers in Psychology (2017).
3. Autobiographical memory coherence and specificity: Examining their reciprocal relation and their associations with internalizing symptoms and rumination. Behaviour Research and Therapy (2019).
4. Narrative Coherence and Identity: Associations With Psychological Well-Being and Internalizing Symptoms. Frontiers in Psychology (2019).
5. Autobiographical memory coherence in emotional disorders: The role of rumination, cognitive avoidance, executive functioning, and meaning making. PLOS ONE (2020).
6. Narrative coherence predicts emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-year longitudinal study. Cognition & Emotion (2021).
7. I like you better when you are coherent. Narrating autobiographical memories in a coherent manner has a positive impact on listeners’ social evaluations. PLOS ONE (2020).
8. Life Narratives Are More Other-Centered, More Negative, and Less Coherent in Turkey Than in Germany: Comparing Provincial-Turkish, Metropolitan-Turkish, Turkish-German, and Native German Educated Young Adults. Frontiers in Psychology (2018).