Telescoping effect

The telescoping effect is a memory error in which people misdate past events, often placing distant events too recently or recent events too far back.

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Forward telescoping: A dating error in which an event is remembered as more recent than it was. It explains how events outside a recall period can be mistakenly placed inside it.
Recall period: The span of time respondents are asked to consider when reporting past events or behavior. Telescoping changes which events respondents believe fall inside this span.
Incidence rate: The rate at which new cases or events occur in a population over a specified period. Misdated events can be assigned to the wrong period, altering estimated incidence.
Recency effect: The tendency to remember the most recently presented items in a sequence better than earlier items. It concerns recall advantage by list position, not misdating past events.
Backward telescoping: A dating error in which an event is remembered as more distant than it was. It explains why events within a recall period can be omitted as seemingly too old.
Bounded recall: A survey method that uses a prior interview to help respondents exclude previously reported events. It reduces forward telescoping by giving respondents a personal time boundary.
Retrospective study: A study that examines past events or exposures using records or participant reports collected later. Its findings may depend on participants' ability to date past events.
Serial-position effect: The pattern in which memory for items depends on their positions in a sequence. The recency effect belongs to this family, unlike temporal telescoping.
Autobiographical memory: Memory for personally experienced events and information about one's own life. Telescoping arises when autobiographical memories are retrieved with imprecise dates.
Event history calendar: A survey tool that links reported events to dates and memorable personal or public landmarks. Its landmarks help respondents place events more accurately in time.