Dose-dependent effects of hydrocortisone infusion on autobiographical memory recall.

The glucocorticoid hormone cortisol has been shown to impair episodic memory performance. The present study examined the effect of two doses of hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol) administration on autobiographical memory retrieval. Healthy volunteers (n = 66) were studied on two separate visits, during which they received placebo and either moderate-dose (0.15 mg/kg IV; n = 33) or high-dose (0.45 mg/kg IV; n = 33) hydrocortisone infusion. From 75 to 150 min post-infusion subjects performed an Autobiographical Memory Test and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). The high-dose hydrocortisone administration reduced the percent of specific memories recalled (p = .04), increased the percent of categorical (nonspecific) memories recalled (p     

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity and rumination in predicting the course of depression.

Reduced autobiographical memory (AM) specificity is a known vulnerability factor for depression. AM specificity was investigated as a predictor of depression with the Autobiographical Memory Test (J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986). When baseline depression scores were partialed, reduced AM specificity to negative cue words predicted higher levels of depression at 7-month follow-up. Once rumination was taken into account by means of the Rumination on Sadness Scale (M. Conway, P. A. R. Csank, S. L. Holm, & C. K. Blake, 2000), AM specificity no longer predicted depression, suggesting that the predictive value of AM specificity observed in previous studies might be--at least partly--explained as an effect of rumination. Further mediation analyses indeed revealed support for rumination as a mediator of the relation between reduced AM specificity and poor outcome of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New perspectives on autobiographical memory: The integration of narrative processing and autobiographical reasoning.

Researchers from diverse psychological subdisciplines have increasingly turned their attention to the storied aspect of human thought. Narrative processing and autobiographical reasoning are 2 forms of this conscious thought. Narrative processing is the tendency to create thought units that use vivid imagery, sequential plots, characters, and salient goals. Autobiographical reasoning consists of interpreting and evaluating remembered experiences. Both forms of thought are discussed in D. P. McAdams's (see record 2001-06545-002) personality theory and D. B. Pillemer's (see record 2001-06545-003) cognitive research. S. Bluck and T. Habermas (see record 2001-06545-004) highlight developmental aspects of narrative processing and autobiographical reasoning, particularly in adolescent identity formation. U. M. Staudinger (see record 2001-06545-005) illustrates how autobiographical reasoning about memories and life stories serves as a springboard for wisdom at different stages of the life cycle. Implications for integrating subdisciplines of psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory and depression: The role of executive control.

It has been widely established that depressed mood states and clinical depression, as well as a range of other psychiatric disorders, are associated with a relative difficulty in accessing specific autobiographical information in response to emotion-related cue words on an Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986). In 8 studies the authors examined the extent to which this relationship is a function of impaired executive control associated with these mood states and clinical disorders. Studies 1-4 demonstrated that performance on the AMT is associated with performance on measures of executive control, independent of depressed mood. Furthermore, Study 1 showed that executive control (as measured by verbal fluency) mediated the relationship between both depressed mood and a clinical diagnosis of eating disorder and AMT performance. Using a stratified sample in Study 5, the authors confirmed the positive association between depressed mood and impaired performance on the AMT. Studies 6-8 involved experimental manipulations of the parameters of the AMT designed to further indicate that reduced executive control is to a significant extent driving the relationship between depressed mood and AMT performance. The potential role of executive control in accounting for other aspects of the AMT literature is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of age on involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory.

Research on aging and autobiographical memory has focused almost exclusively on voluntary autobiographical memory. However, in everyday life, autobiographical memories often come to mind spontaneously without deliberate attempt to retrieve anything. In the present study, diary and word-cue methods were used to compare the involuntary and voluntary memories of 44 young and 38 older adults. The results showed that older adults reported fewer involuntary and voluntary memories than did younger adults. Additionally, the life span distribution of involuntary and voluntary memories did not differ in young adults (a clear recency effect) or in older adults (a recency effect and a reminiscence bump). Despite these similarities between involuntary and voluntary memories, there were also important differences in terms of the effects of age on some memory characteristics. Thus, older adults’ voluntary memories were less specific and were recalled more slowly than those of young adults, but there were no reliable age differences in the specificity of involuntary memories. Moreover, older adults rated their involuntary memories as more positive than did young adults, but this positivity effect was not found for voluntary memories. Theoretical implications of these findings for research on autobiographical memory and cognitive aging are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory in depressed adolescents with, versus without, a reported history of trauma.

Autobiographical memory retrieval is fundamental to the developing self-concept in adolescence, to emotion regulation, and to social problem solving and has been shown to be compromised in adolescents diagnosed with depression (R. J. Park, I. M. Goodyer, & J. D. Teasdale, 2002). The authors of the present study assessed autobiographical memory overgenerality in a sample of depressed adolescent participants with, versus without, a reported history of trauma and never-depressed control participants by using an emotion word-cueing paradigm. The authors' analyses showed for the first time that adolescents with major depression and with no reported history of trauma exhibited an overgeneral memory bias. They also revealed that depressed adolescents who reported a history of trauma retrieved fewer overgeneral memories than did depressed adolescents who reported no history of trauma. Among depressed adolescents who reported a history of trauma, more severe posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with less overgenerality. Possible accounts of these findings are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory and traumatic events: An evaluative review.

Does trauma exposure impair retrieval of autobiographical memories? Many theorists have suggested that the reduced ability to access specific memories of life events, termed overgenerality, is a protective mechanism helping attenuate painful emotions associated with trauma. The authors addressed this question by reviewing 24 studies that assessed trauma exposure and overgenerality, examining samples with posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, depression, traumatic event exposure, and other clinical disorders. Limitations are discussed, including variations in assessment of events, depression, and overgenerality and the need for additional comparison groups. Across studies, there was no consistent association between trauma exposure and overgenerality, suggesting that trauma exposure is unlikely to be the primary mechanism leading to overgenerality. Instead, psychopathology factors such as depression and posttraumatic stress appear to be more consistently associated with overgenerality. Alternative overgenerality theories may help identify key overgenerality mechanisms, improving current understanding of autobiographical memory processes underlying psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory in Cluster C personality disorders and the role of depression, worry, and experiential avoidance.

The study objective was to investigate whether, compared with nonclinical controls, participants with an avoidant, dependent, or obsessive–compulsive Cluster C personality disorder (PD) manifested reduced levels of memory specificity and whether the association of Cluster C PDs with memory specificity is mediated by repetitive negative thoughts and experiential avoidance. The Autobiographical Memory Test (R. J. McNally, N. B. Lasko, M. L. Macklin, & R. K. Pitman, 1995) was administered along with self-report measures (translated into Dutch) for repetitive, uncontrollable, and negative thinking in the form of worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire; T. J. Meyer, M. L. Miller, R. L. Metzger, & T. D. Borkovec, 1990) and experiential avoidance (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire; S. C. Hayes et al., 2004) to 294 clinical participants diagnosed with Axis I disorders (assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Axis I Disorders [SCID-I]; M. B. First, R. L. Spitzer, M. Gibbon, & J. B. W. Williams, 1994) and Axis II disorders (assessed with the SCID-II; M. B. First, R. L. Spitzer, M. Gibbon, & J. B. W. Williams, 1997)—202 with avoidant, 49 with dependent, and 120 with obsessive–compulsive PD—and to 108 matched nonclinical controls. Participants with a Cluster C PD showed lower levels of memory specificity than did nonclinical controls. Depression and worry mediated the effect of Cluster C PDs on memory specificity. Besides depression severity, repetitive, uncontrollable, and negative thinking may constitute a general mechanism mediating the association of various Axis I and II disorders with memory specificity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multimodal cuing of autobiographical memory in semantic dementia.

Objective: Individuals with semantic dementia (SD) have impaired autobiographical memory (AM), but the extent of the impairment has been controversial. According to one report (Westmacott, Leach, Freedman, & Moscovitch, 2001), patient performance was better when visual cues were used instead of verbal cues; however, the visual cues used in that study (family photographs) provided more retrieval support than do the word cues that are typically used in AM studies. In the present study, we sought to disentangle the effects of retrieval support and cue modality. Method: We cued AMs of 5 patients with SD and 5 controls with words, simple pictures, and odors. Memories were elicited from childhood, early adulthood, and recent adulthood; they were scored for level of detail and episodic specificity. Results: The patients were impaired across all time periods and stimulus modalities. Within the patient group, words and pictures were equally effective as cues (Friedman test; χ2 = 0.25, p = .61), whereas odors were less effective than both words and pictures (for words vs. odors, χ2 = 7.83, p = .005; for pictures vs. odors, χ2 = 6.18, p = .01). There was no evidence of a temporal gradient in either group (for patients with SD, χ2 = 0.24, p = .89; for controls, χ2     

Aging and autobiographical memory: Dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval.

Cognitive aging research documents reduced access to contextually specific episodic details in older adults, whereas access to semantic or other nonepisodic information is preserved or facilitated. The present study extended this finding to autobiographical memory by using a new measure: the Autobiographical Interview. Younger and older adults recalled events from 5 life periods. Protocols were scored according to a reliable system for categorizing episodic and nonepisodic information. Whereas younger adults were biased toward episodic details reflecting happenings, locations, perceptions, and thoughts, older adults favored semantic details not connected to a particular time and place. This pattern persisted after additional structured probing for contextual details. The Autobiographical Interview is a useful instrument for quantifying episodic and semantic contributions to personal remote memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impaired specific autobiographical memory as a risk factor for posttraumatic stress after trauma.

This study tested the proposal that impaired retrieval of specific autobiographical memories is a risk factor for psychological disturbance after trauma exposure. Trainee firefighters (N = 60) were assessed during training (before trauma exposure) on the Autobiographical Memory Test, Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and Traumatic Events Questionnaire. Participants were reassessed 4 years later (N = 46) on the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale and BDI-II. All participants had been exposed to multiple traumatic events, and 15% met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Impaired retrieval of specific memories in response to positive cues prior to trauma exposure significantly predicted posttraumatic stress severity after trauma exposure. These findings provide initial evidence that impaired specific retrieval of memories may be a risk factor for posttraumatic stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-reported parental abuse relates to autobiographical memory style in patients with eating disorders.

Previous research has shown a relationship between levels of self-reported childhood abuse and overgeneral memory style. This relationship was further clarified in patients with an eating disorder (ED). Patients and healthy controls completed a task in which they had to generate specific autobiographical memories to emotional cue words. The results showed that first, the ED group, relative to the controls, produced more first memories that were "overgeneral" and fewer first memories that were specific. Second, in the ED group, the level of self-reported parental abuse was positively correlated with the tendency to produce overgeneral memories to negative cues. This effect remained significant even after levels of depressed mood were controlled for. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder.

The authors review research showing that when recalling autobiographical events, many emotionally disturbed patients summarize categories of events rather than retrieving a single episode. The mechanisms underlying such overgeneral memory are examined, with a focus on M. A. Conway and C. W. Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) hierarchical search model of personal event retrieval. An elaboration of this model is proposed to account for overgeneral memory, focusing on how memory search can be affected by (a) capture and rumination processes, when mnemonic information used in retrieval activates ruminative thinking; (b) functional avoidance, when episodic material threatens to cause affective disturbance; and (c) impairment in executive capacity and control that limits an individual's ability to remain focused on retrieval in the face of distraction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extending the study of autobiographical memory: Thinking back about life across the life span.

By combining a life perspective with a life span perspective, the authors present a basic framework for extending the study of autobiographical memory. The life perspective suggests not only the consideration of individual episodes of memory but how they are strung together into a life. The life span perspective takes into account the chronological age and life context of individuals and how these factors might affect abilities and motivations related to the use of autobiographical memory. The authors discuss how these 2 perspectives are combined to yield a useful framework for studying autobiographical memory and present 2 examples of work done using this framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autobiographical memory specificity and affect regulation: An experimental approach.

This study investigated J. M. G. Williams's (1996) affect-regulation hypothesis that level of specificity of autobiographical memory (AM) is used to minimize negative affect. It was found that a negative event leads to more reports of subjective stress in high- as compared with low-specific participants. Also, afterward, high-specific participants rated their unprompted memories for the event as more unpleasant. The results indicate that, relative to high specificity, being less specific in the retrieval of AMs is associated with less affective impact of a negative event. Results are discussed within the affect-regulation model. It is suggested that future research take a more functional perspective on AM specificity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On telling the whole story: Facts and interpretations in autobiographical memory narratives from childhood through midadolescence.

This article examines age differences from childhood through middle adolescence in the extent to which children include factual and interpretive information in constructing autobiographical memory narratives. Factual information is defined as observable or perceptible information available to all individuals who experience a given event, while interpretive information is defined as information that articulates the desires, emotions, beliefs, and thoughts of the participant and other individuals who experience an event. Developmental research suggests that the latter type of information should become particularly prevalent in later adolescence, while the former should be abundantly evident by age 8. Across 2 studies, we found evidence for strong increases in interpretive information during adolescence, but not before. These increases were evident across different types of events, and across different subtypes of interpretive content. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of autobiographical memory in childhood and adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meaning making, uncertainty reduction, and the functions of autobiographical memory: A relational framework.

Three interrelated propositions are used to formulate a conceptual framework for understanding how the widely reported functions of autobiographical memory (a.m.)—the self, social, and directive functions—are related, complementary, and purposive. The existential literature provides a structure of meaningful relationships among various existential elements that are represented in a.m. It is argued that humans are meaning-makers driven by the need to make and understand relations within socially constructed realities. Human agency suggests that the process of self-reflection is a distinctly human core property of agency; moreover, the process of self-reflection is imbued with uncertainty. The social–cognitive literature suggests that humans seek relational coherence and meaning-ness, and strive to reduce uncertainty in their relational structures. Thus, it is suggested that the a.m. functions interact and support one another through relational frameworks such that a consistent and coherent life story can be created and maintained. Implications of this research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating models of working memory through the effects of concurrent irrelevant information.

Working memory is believed to play a central role in almost all domains of higher cognition, yet the specific mechanisms involved in working memory are still fiercely debated. We describe a neuroimaging experiment with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a companion behavioral experiment, and in both we seek to adjudicate between alternative theoretical models of working memory on the basis of the effects of interference from articulatory suppression, irrelevant speech, and irrelevant nonspeech. In Experiment 1 we examined fMRI signal changes induced by each type of irrelevant information while subjects performed a probed recall task. Within a principally frontal and left-lateralized network of brain regions, articulatory suppression caused an increase in activity during item presentation, whereas both irrelevant speech and nonspeech caused relative activity reductions during the subsequent delay interval. In Experiment 2, the specific timing of interference was manipulated in a delayed serial recall task. Articulatory suppression was found to be most consequential when it coincided with item presentation, whereas both irrelevant speech and irrelevant nonspeech effects were strongest when limited to the subsequent delay period. Taken together, these experiments provide convergent evidence for a dissociation of articulatory suppression from the 2 irrelevant sound conditions. Implications of these findings are considered for 4 prominent theories of working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)