Remembering online and offline: the effects of retrieval contexts, cues, and intervals on autobiographical memory

The current study examined the impact of social media as a retrieval context (in contrast to private recall) on the retention of autobiographical memory. At session 1, participants (N = 177) generated recent life events in response to cue words and then described the event details as if they were writing about the events either on WeChat or in their diaries. They received a surprise memory test for the events at session 2 either one week or two weeks later, either with or without the original cue words. Participants in the WeChat condition recalled less consistent memories between the two sessions than those in the diary condition, especially when the memory test took place at the one-week interval and when there were no cues to assist recall at the two-week interval. It appears that memories recalled on social media are subject to greater reconstruction in subsequent offline recall, and that the timing of recall and the presence of memory cues interact with the reconstructive process. These findings shed new light on autobiographical remembering in the digital age.