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Field and Observer Perspectives

The field point of view (first person) is the type of autobiographical memory that is recalled from the field of perspective that occurred when the memory was encoded. The observer point of view (third person) is an autobiographical memory that is recalled from an observer position, i.e. viewing the action as an outsider. Studies have taken place that have tested the prevalence of observer and field memories to determine which kind of memories occur at which times. Some of the moderators that change individuals' recalled perspectives are memory age, emotionality, and self-awareness.

Memory Age: Memory age is the amount of time that has passed since the event. Memory age also appears to be one of the most important determinants of perspective type. Further, perspective is most difficult to change in older memories, especially childhood memories. Studies have found that the as the memory age increases, there is also an increase in the amount of observer memories. Recent memories are often experienced in the field perspective.

Emotionality: Emotionality refers to the emotional state of individual at the time that the memory is encoded. High levels of emotionality are correlated with field memories, whereas memories that are based on concrete facts are correlated with observer memories. When participants were asked to focus on feelings at retrieval of memories they more often classified their memories as the field perspective. Other data has shown that emotionality of the individual at the time of encoding will more often yield an observer perspective. This would be equated to memories of running from a threatening situation or being in a car accident.

Self-awareness: Self-awareness refers to the amount of consciousness an individual has of their self. A higher level of self-awareness is often associated with observer memories, including such memories as being in a group project or running for exercise.

Changing Perspectives

A recent study was focused on how the third person perspective can change vantage points. This study showed that the third person perspective occurs at different places based on the type of event remembered and that the perspective can be changed. Often the dominant third person perspective occurs at a place that the individual has experienced before. An individual remembering giving a presentation in front of a group would have a dominant perspective of being within the group, since the individual would have experienced being in a group watching a presentation before. Third person perspective locations are often near the individual. This study also found a higher percentage of third person perspective than first person perspective. This goes against previous studies, but this can be explained by possible bias resulting from either a more thorough explanation of what third person perspective is, or by asking participants the location of their perspective which would prompt an observer instead of a field perspective.

Perspectives, the Brain, and Emotions

The field and observer perspectives have also been described as "pre-reflective" and "reflective," respectively. There is evidence that different brain regions are activated by the pre-reflective and reflective perspectives. Emotion and affect are associated with the first person perspective's brain region while complex cognitive processing is associated with the third person perspective's brain region. Further, when memories are associated with either positive or negative emotions they will more likely be recalled from the field perspective, whereas memories that are not emotionally charged (neutral) are associated with the observer perspective.

Trauma and the Perspectives

With highly stressful situations, the third person perspective can be used in encoding in order to distance the individual from the physical or emotional pain while reliving the memory. Clinical psychologists have found the third person perspective to be a psychological "buffer" of sorts to save an individual from pain when recalling the memory. This is especially seen in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Sense of Self and the Perspectives

Another theory of the visual perspective deals with the continuity or discontinuity of the self. This theory breaks down the observer method into two possibilities: the dispassionate observer and the salient self. In the dispassionate observer view, the first person is used when an individual has continuity with the self whereas the third person perspective is used for discontinuity or inauthenticity of the self. This is consistent with previous data. The salient self has the opposite pattern: if an individual perceives continuity with the self, they would approach this with a third person perspective contrasted to having discontinuity or incongruence that would be approached with the first person perspective. In both views continuity is seen as a way to connect and strengthen the past self to the current self and discontinuity is distanced from the self; however, the visual perspective employed is the opposite for each view.

Sources for Autobiographical Memory

Definite Sources: