Abstract
The subjective experience associated to memory processing is the core of the definition of episodic autobiographical memory (EAM). However, while it is widely known that amnesia affects the content of memories, few studies focused on the consequences of an impairment of EAM on the subjective self, also called the I-self. In the present study, we explored the I-self in two puzzling disorders that affect EAM: functional amnesia, which has an impact on autobiographical memory, and transient global amnesia (TGA), which only affects episodic memory. I-self was assessed through an original measure of self-integration in autobiographical narratives, namely the use of general or personal pronouns. Results showed that patients with functional amnesia tended to use general pronouns, whereas patients with TGA preferentially used the first person. The link between I-self and depersonalization-derealisation tendencies was also explored, showing dissociative tendencies in patients with functional amnesia but not in patients with TGA. We discuss these results from a combined neuropsychological and psychopathological perspective, with a view to proposing an explanatory model of the links between self-awareness and the episodic component of autobiographical memory.
Highlights
Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) (Conway et al, 2004) is located at the junction of two concepts: autobiographical memory (AM) and episodic memory
Pronoun Use in Functional Amnesia Group Mann-Whitney U-tests showed that the narratives of patients with functional amnesia (FA) contained more general pronouns (M = 0.41, SD = 0.18) than those of both FA controls (M = 0.25, SD = 0.05, U = 4, z = 2.27, p < 0.05, r = 0.63) and patients with transient global amnesia (TGA) (M = 0.23, SD = 0.08, U = 2, z = 2.09, p < 0.05, r = 0.66) (Figure 2A)
According to Pennebaker et al (2003), liars avoid first-person use and selfreferences because of the absence of personal experience about the narrative’s content. This situation may be comparable to that experienced by some of our patients with FA, especially those with the most severe dissociation from their past, HS and CC, as we found that their general pronoun ratio was higher than their first-person pronoun ratio
Summary
Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) (Conway et al, 2004) is located at the junction of two concepts: autobiographical memory (AM) and episodic memory. Episodic memory allows individuals to encode, store and retrieve specific events with a subjective feeling of owning these memories and to re-experience them (Tulving, 1985; Tulving et al, 2004) This phenomenon was compared to a subjective mental travel in time. At their junction, EAM can be defined as a system involved in the process of personal or autobiographical specific-event memories, at all stages of memory processing, e.g., encoding a new relevant autobiographical event, retrieve one from the past or provide a personal specific projection in the future, by integrating the subjective dimensions described in the definition of episodic memory (Conway et al, 2004)
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