TASK DEFINITION: Read the given story and classify it as 'imagined', 'recalled', or 'retold'. If a story is imagined, the person who wrote the story is making it up, pretending they experienced it. If a story is recalled, the person who wrote the story really experienced it and is recalling it from memory. If a story is retold, it is a real memory like the 'recalled' stories, but written down much later after previously writing a 'recalled' story about the same events. So, recalled stories and retold stories will be fairly similar, in that they both were real experiences for the writer. Imagined stories have a more linear flow and contain more commonsense knowledge, whereas recalled stories are less connected and contain more specific concrete events. Additionally, higher levels of self reference are found in imagined stories. Between recalled and retold stories, retold stories flow significantly more linearly than recalled stories, and retold stories are significantly higher in scores for cognitive processes and positive tone.
PROBLEM: Last May, I celebrated my fortieth birthday with my family and two other families. We gathered at the lake in Kentucky where we meet every May. We spent three days fishing, boating, and socializing. It was great to hear from old friends who we do not see often anymore. All of the adults were very close in college, but have drifted apart in the recent years moving to different states. It was important to me because while I enjoy meeting with my two best friends from college, our families have now started to grow closer as well. Each family has two children, and I enjoyed seeing my daughters become closer friends with the other children. The children planned their own games, enjoyed swimming in the lake, and created a rope-swing off of the dock. The most meaningful moments to me were seeing our children develop a similar friendship to what I had with the two other Dads who were present that weekend. The children wanted to keep in contact upon leaving, which has not happened before. They planned to "borrow" phones from their parents so that they could text and call each other throughout the summer. They even planned another trip for the three families to an amusement part later this fall. The children are now growing old enough that they can experience lake activities without the adults, giving us more time for reflection and fun. The fact the the weekend hit a milestone birthday for me this year was largely a coincidence, but it worked out perfectly as a time to reflect on four decades and anticipate (hopefully) many more. It is great ot know that some friendships span multiple generations.

SOLUTION: recalled

PROBLEM: It was a beautiful Saturday morning. My family members and i decided to go to the beach. We got to the beach and got carried away by the fun. We forgot to apply the sunscreen and that caused a damage to our skin. We all got sunburned and look black. This unique burn on our skin made us look alike. After leaving the beach and got home. We decided to have a family reunion and this made us all have a burn to identify ourselves. We really love what the sunburn did to our skin. It made us love ourselves more. We took a family picture and placed it in the living room. Each member also had a copy of the pictures. We planned another visit to the beach. We applied sunscreen this time. We are ever happy after.

SOLUTION: imagined

PROBLEM: My husband has been out of jail for about a month and it has been stressful, to say the least. We fight all the time and as much as I try, I can't make him happy or help him with his anger. He has returned to meth one time since he's been out and it was terrible to watch. He had full-on delusions and wanted to argue you with me over scientific principles that were non-existent. He claimed that all plants have psychedelic properties and that he could make DMT out of the mimosa trees that grow near our house. I found him passed out at the base of a poor tree that had been hacked halfway out of the ground with a garden trowel. He seems to be doing better and has gotten into an outpatient treatment program in the last week. I fear he has some psychological issues that need medication, but I dare not say anything about it to him. Luckily, I work from home and can monitor him while he's here. I moved after his arrest to a more rural area to avoid the drug culture that our old neighborhood was immersed in. As for myself, I have no desire to use drugs, other than maybe some pot now and then to relax. I feel like there are so many other people that suffer from addiction and there are no real resources to help them, save meetings and for-profit rehabs. I have started a non-profit application so that people might be able to get to meetings and appointments. It seems that people on drugs have no transportation to get to the help that they so desperately need. Watching the man that I love devolve into an angry crazy caricature is heartbreaking to say the least. He was a beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, playful, poetic soul when I married him and drugs have taken that man away and left me with a shell. I hope and pray that he can come back to his former self and I will use all my resources to make that happen.

SOLUTION:
retold

