Reminiscence Bump

The reminiscence bump refers to the tendency for older adults to have an increased recollection of events that happened during adolescence and early adulthood. This was identified as part of what is called the lifespan retrieval curve which was noted through the study of autobiographical memory. For the vast majority of individuals this reminiscence bump focuses on the memories of the teenage years and early 20's, largely due to the emotional intensity of this age group due to the number of choices and changes that occur then. The lifespan retrieval curve itself is a graph that represents the number of autobiographical memories encoded at various ages. The reminiscence bump seems to occur because memory storage isn't consistent through the life span. Instead, memory storage increases during times of changes in the self and in life goals, for instance like the changes in identity that occur during adolescence.