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.

[Q]: A large group of friends and myself got together for a barbecue. It is rare that we can all get together at the same time. We usually can only get together in small bunches with one to three of us missing so it is a great time when we all can get together. We went to one of our friends houses and hung out in their back yard next to their pool. We spent most of the time talking and playing a few board or card games, just catching up. It was overall sunny and good weather outside, a little hotter than some of use like. The friend whose house it was bought hamburger, hot dogs, sausage and chicken to cook on their grill. A few of use also brought a lot of other food and things with them. Some brought soda, drinks and ice others brought side dishes. I brought a few things and made a dessert. We ended up spending most of the day and part of the night together and went home close to 11 that night. It was a good time and fun catching up with everyone together. A lot of us made plans for the next meet up since some of use enjoy different hobbies than others. Myself and a group made plans to go hiking the following weekend. We also made a few plans to meet up for lunch and play games during the week.
[A]: retold


[Q]: I went out with a group of friends to go swimming on a warm summer day. We went to a secluded creak that has a clearing to swim in. It was with a group of friends from a spiritual community that I am a part of. When went after the Sunday service and it was a small group of about 7 people. We drove in two separate cars and the drive was about 10 minutes to get to where we were going. I had some memories come up while we were there from when I was a kid and I used to go swimming with my family and groups of friends at places like these. I also felt myself withdrawing from the group a bit and not relating well. I cut my leg on a rock when I was going into the water. It made me start to obsessively worry about if it would be infected and also being mad at myself for being reckless. The water felt good in the hot weather and I got some good exercise while swimming. I put on a lot of sunscreen so I didn't get sunburned. We stayed at the place swimming and talking for about 2 hours. Then we drove back to our community and had some food and drinks. I found myself regretting not trying to connect with people more. I noticed how I was doing things to make myself feel alienated and separate from the people I was with.
[A]: retold


[Q]: Having to drive my parents to and from the hospital took a toll on me both emotionally and socially. Emotionally, I was worried about my dad and my mom. My mom didn't handle the situation well and made each trip unnecessarily dramatic. My dad was aggravated by the entire situation because he felt that he could have driven himself. My mother acting like he was on his death bed day in and day out was not helpful to his state of mind either. Once at the hospital, it took many hours sometimes for the test to be performed. This was tedious and stressful. Socially, I had to turn down many activities with friends because the trips were time consuming and mentally exhausting. My relationship with my girlfriend suffered because most of our conversations resulted in me complaining about various aspects of the situation or confessing my fears of losing my father. Not to mention the time we spent apart during this time. My relationship with my parents also suffered because the weight of the situation made for raw feelings and emotions which we took out on each other. Situations like this should bring people closer together but in this case it was horrible for us all in every way. I still harbor a lot of anger toward my mother because I feel that she is not helpful to my father's condition. I think she brings a lot of unneeded stress and I feel disgusting even thinking that but it is true. I really feel her attitude and poor coping skills are shortening my dad's life. I tried speaking to her about it but it resulted in hurt feelings and anger.
[A]:
imagined