Retrieving the sequence of autobiographical event components

This study examined ability to sequence components from within autobiographical events. Subjects took photographs of their experiences, and the films were developed and coded for sequences (e.g. six photographs of a picnic). Experiment 1 found ability to place photographs into the correct temporal order was generally poor, but improved when testing occurred within a week of the event's occurrence. Experiment 2 replicated the generally poor level of sequencing performance found in Experiment 1 and found that an ability to recall event detail facilitated sequencing performance. An Event Component Ordering Model (ECOM) was developed which suggests event components are initially linked to their general event representation by detail access associations. It is suggested that detail access associations are routinely accessed in temporal order. Thus the order in which event components are recalled is typically the order in which they were encoded and there is no actual encoding of temporal information for event components. Finally, activation of partially decayed detail access associations is suggested to indicate that recall order no longer equates to encoding order. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.