Testing the impact of emotional mood and cue characteristics on detailed autobiographical memory retrieval.

Abstract. We examined whether interindividual differences in cognitive functioning among older adults are related to episodic memory engagement during autobiographical memory retrieval. Older adults ( n = 49, 24 males; mean age = 69.93; mean education = 15.45) with different levels of cognitive functioning, estimated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), retrieved multiple memories (generation task) and the details of a single memory (elaboration task) to cues representing thematic or event-specific autobiographical knowledge. We found that the MoCA score positively predicted the proportion of specific memories for generation and episodic details for elaboration, but only to cues that represented event-specific information. The results demonstrate that individuals with healthy, but not unhealthy, cognitive status can leverage contextual support from retrieval cues to improve autobiographical specificity.

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Are all third-person-perspective memories created equal? An examination of visual perspective use during autobiographical memory retrieval

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e527352012-532 ◽

2006 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Heather J. Rice ◽

David C. Rubin

Keyword(s):

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Visual Perspective ◽

Person Perspective ◽

Third Person ◽

Third Person Perspective

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An Examination of the Impact of Methodology on Autobiographical Memory Specificity

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e528942014-951 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Nicola Herting ◽

John-Paul Legerski ◽

Sarah Bunnel ◽

Beth Bray ◽

Thomas Petros

Keyword(s):

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Memory Specificity ◽

Autobiographical Memory Specificity ◽

The Impact

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Autobiographical Memory Impairments as a Transdiagnostic Feature of Mental Illness: A meta-analysis of autobiographical memory specificity and overgenerality amongst people with psychiatric diagnoses

10.31234/osf.io/ab5cu ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tom Joseph Barry ◽

David John Hallford ◽

Keisuke Takano

Keyword(s):

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Keyword Search ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Future Research ◽

Psychiatric Diagnoses ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Memory Impairments ◽

Memory Specificity ◽

Causal Mechanisms

Decades of research has examined the difficulty that people with psychiatric diagnoses, such as Major Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, have in recalling specific autobiographical memories from events that lasted less than a day. Instead, they seem to retrieve general events that have occurred many times or which occurred over longer periods of time, termed overgeneral memory. We present the first transdiagnostic meta-analysis of memory specificity/overgenerality, and the first meta-regression of proposed causal mechanisms. A keyword search of Embase, PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO databases yielded 74 studies that compared people with and without psychiatric diagnoses on the retrieval of specific (k = 85) or general memories (k = 56). Multi-level meta-analysis confirmed that people with psychiatric diagnoses typically recall fewer specific (g = -0.864, 95% CI[-1.030, -0.698]) and more general (g = .712, 95% CI[0.524, 0.900]) memories than diagnoses-free people. The size of these effects did not differ between diagnostic groups. There were no consistent moderators; effect sizes were not explained by methodological factors such as cue valence, or demographic variables such as participants’ age. There was also no support for the contribution of underlying processes that are thought to be involved in specific/general memory retrieval (e.g., rumination). Our findings confirm that deficits in autobiographical memory retrieval are a transdiagnostic factor associated with a broad range of psychiatric problems, but future research should explore novel causal mechanisms such as encoding deficits and the social processes involved in memory sharing and rehearsal.

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Specificity and detail in autobiographical memory retrieval: A multi-site (re)investigation.

10.31234/osf.io/mb5g8 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

David John Hallford ◽

Tom Joseph Barry ◽

Eline Belmans ◽

Filip Raes ◽

Sam Dax ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Severe Depression ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Autobiographical Memories ◽

Memory Specificity ◽

Specific Event ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Cue Words

This investigation examined conflicting suggestions regarding the association between problems retrieving specific autobiographical memories and the tendency to retrieve the details of these memories. We also examined whether these tendencies are differentially related to depression symptoms. U.S., Belgian, Hong Kong and Japanese participants retrieved memories related to cue words. Responses were coded for if they referred to a specific event (i.e., an event lasting less than 24 hours) and their details (What? Where? Who?). Across sites, and in meta-analyses, the retrieval of more specific memories was associated with retrieval of more details. Memories that were specific included more detail than non-specific memories. Across sites, retrieval of more specific memories and more detail was associated with less severe depression symptoms. Episodic specificity and detailedness are related but separable constructs. Future investigations of autobiographical memory specificity, and methods for alleviating problematic specificity, should consider measures of episodic detailedness.

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