Abstract
Autobiographical memories consist of different features that have been shown to relate to psychological well-being and psychopathology. Two such characteristics show quite some overlap, namely memory coherence and memory specificity, although their association has never been investigated before. In this study, we examined the association between memory coherence and memory specificity in a sample of first-year psychology students. Additionally, to gain more insight into the relation between memory coherence and psychopathology, we investigated the association with known correlates of memory specificity, namely internalizing symptoms and rumination. We found that narrating about personal experiences in a coherent manner is related to retrieving more specific memories. However, the association between memory coherence and memory specificity was rather weak. Furthermore, we found that memory coherence was negatively associated with the level of depressive symptoms and could predict these symptoms even after controlling for memory specificity and rumination. Given the potential clinical importance of these findings, future research should focus on examining the specific circumstances in which memory coherence is related to psychopathology, and on mechanisms that could explain this association.
Highlights
Autobiographical memories are memories about personal experiences that go beyond the mere factual description of the event to include personal beliefs, emotions, and thoughts (Bruner, 1990; Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Fivush, 2010)
To broaden our understanding of how memory coherence relates to psychopathology, we investigated its association with known correlates of memory specificity, namely internalizing symptoms and rumination
These results suggest that individuals who are adept to narrate about personal experiences in a coherent manner retrieve more specific memories and vice versa
Summary
Autobiographical memories are memories about personal experiences that go beyond the mere factual description of the event to include personal beliefs, emotions, and thoughts (Bruner, 1990; Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Fivush, 2010). Such memories consist of different features, like their emotional intensity, vividness, the amount of detail they entail etc. Memory specificity refers to the extent to which retrieved autobiographical memories are specific or not (i.e., memory of a particular event that happened at a particular time and place that lasted no more than one day). Difficulty with retrieving such specific memories is called overgeneral autobiographical memory or OGM
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