Dr. Alea's research involves understanding how adults of different ages remember the events of their life, and use autobiographical memories to nurture social relationships and foster emotional well-being. Two major areas of research help us achieve this goal (selected readings below):

Examining the purpose or social 'function' of remembering life experiences at different points in the lifespan.

Alea, N. & Bluck , S. (2007). I’ll keep you in mind: The intimacy function of autobiographical memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Published online December 18, 2006.

Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T., & Rubin, D. C. (2005). A TALE of three functions: the self-reported uses of autobiographical memory. Social Cognition, 23, 91-117.

Alea, N., & Bluck, S. (2003). Why are you telling me that? A conceptual model of the social function of autobiographical memory. Memory, 11, 15-178.  

Exploring whether the quality of autobiographical memory changes or remains the same across adulthood.

Alea, N., Vick, S. C., & Hyatt, A. (under review). What are you gabbing about? Memory content predicts the beneficial effects of guided autobiography. International Journal of Aging and Human Development.

Bluck , S. & Alea, N. (under review). Characteristics of positive autobiographical memories: The stuff of which memories are made. Memory.  

Alea, N., Bluck , S., & Semegon, A. (2004). Young and older adults’ expression of emotional experience: Do autobiographical narratives tell a different story? Journal of Ault Development, 11, 235-251.

See the links below for  more information about the current research team, joining the research team, or if you are interested in participating in research projects and becoming a member of the UNCW Adult Participant Pool. Many of the research projects in the TALE lab occur in conjunction with the Life Story Lab at the University of Florida.