Motivation for weight loss affects recall from autobiographical memory in dieters

Mémoire autobiographique épisodique et dépression: Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: a review

Autobiographical memory specificity commonly declines with age, but the role of emotion in modulating this deficit is unclear. Prior studies have typically used the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) paradigm and have asked younger and older participants to produce autobiographical memories in response to emotional and neutral cue words. However, these studies have often confounded cue valence with cue concreteness. To address this problem, in this study younger and older adults completed an AMT task that used negative, neutral, and positive cue words, which were either abstract or concrete. Results showed an age-related decline in autobiographical memory specificity, but the magnitude of this deficit depended upon cue type. For abstract cue words, older adults’ autobiographical memory specificity was lower than that of younger adults for the negative and neutral cues, but there was no age difference in specificity for the positive cues, a finding that aligns with other reports of age-related positivity effects. In contrast, for concrete cue words, cue valence did not impact autobiographical memory specificity, with similar age differences in specificity for all three cue valences. These findings highlight the importance of considering characteristics of the AMT cues when evaluating autobiographical memory specificity for younger and older adults.

Attention is a limited resource, and in order to improve processing of the attended information, competing processes must be suppressed. Although it is well established that an experimentally induced change in mood state comprises one type of competing process that can impair performance on a subsequent task, no study has investigated whether an emotionally valenced autobiographical memory (AM) also can alter performance on a subsequent task. We therefore examined the effects of AM recall on cognitive performance. Healthy participants (n = 20 per experiment) recalled AMs in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Following each AM participants completed a simple perceptual task (Experiment 1) or solved moderately difficult subtraction problems (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 participants performed less accurately following exposure to positive or negative versus neutral cue words (ps < 0.001), and also were less accurate following negative versus positive cue words (p < 0.001). In Experiment 2, in contrast, no difference in accuracy or response times reached statistical significance. Performance accuracy even trended toward being higher following exposure to negative versus neutral cue words (p = 0.08). The results of Experiment 1 suggested that recalling emotionally salient AMs reduces the attention directed toward a simple continuous performance task administered immediately following the AM task, conceivably due to persistent contemplation of the AM. The negative results of Experiment 2 suggested that the effect of AMs on attention was attenuated, however, by increasing the difficulty of the subsequent task. Our results have implications for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), as performing cognitively demanding tasks may allow them to attenuate the impairing effects of negative rumination on cognition.

Autobiographical memories have been found to be less specific after hydrocortisone administration in healthy men, resembling memory deficits in, for example, depression. This is the first study to investigate the effects of stress-induced elevated cortisol levels on autobiographic memory specificity and experience in healthy young men. Autobiographical memories were elicited by neutral and negative cue words, with instructions to recall either recent or remote memories. No effect of psychosocial stress was found on memory specificity or experience, but cortisol increases tended to be related to less specific, recent memories elicited by neutral cue words, especially when participants were physically aroused during memory retrieval. These results indicate that autobiographical memories are fairly resistant to an acute stressor in healthy young men, but that endogenous cortisol increases might be related to autobiographical memory retrieval. More research into the relation between endogenous cortisol increases and autobiographic memory retrieval is needed, especially in stress-related disorders.

It is generally accepted that autobiographical memories (AMs) are organised in associative networks. While both thematic and temporal similarity have been examined as connections among AMs, in the present study we focused on both the positive and negative emotional intensity of events as a possible link among AMs. To do so, we investigated whether the output order with which AMs elicited by cue words were reported can be accounted for emotional intensity of adjacent AMs. Data come from 94 older adults (M= 67.14; SD= 6.17) who reported 30 AMs in response to neutral cue words. Positive and negative emotional intensity of AMs were assessed on two separate scales (happiness and sadness). The output order was modeled based on a dual mixed-effects autoregressive model, where the strength of the autoregressive effect indicates how much the emotional intensity of an AM can be predicted by the emotional intensity of the previously reported AM. Results show that there were significant autoregressive effects for both the happiness and sadness ratings (accounting for 4% of variance). We also observed cross-over effects, such that the happiness rating of an AM was predicted by the sadness rating of the previously reported AM (and vice versa). Moreover, we found individual differences in the strength of the autoregressive effects. For the sadness ratings, these individual differences tended to be related to the participant’s mood state, particularly so during the first output positions. Together, these findings demonstrate that there is a substantive effect of emotional intensity on the output order with which AMs are reported—even when elicited by cue words. Based on the premise that the output order of AMs informs about the organisation of autobiographical memory, our results highlight the role of emotional associations among AMs in old age.

In this study we examined whether the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory changes when different types of cue words are used to elicit the memories, and how the type of cue word affects the phenomenal characteristics of the memories. A total of 76 participants, ranging in age from 21 to 69 years, were presented with 22 cue words (emotional, emotion-provoking, and neutral). They were asked to recall a personal event and to complete the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (Rubin, Schrauf, & Greenberg, 2003, 2004) for each cue word. Results showed that the phenomenological properties of autobiographical memories which were cued with emotional and emotion-provoking words were rated higher than those of memories which were cued with neutral words, and that the peak in the temporal distributions of the autobiographical memories that were cued with emotional or emotion-provoking words were located later than the peak of the distribution of the memories that were cued with neutral words.

IntroductionAutobiographical memory is known to be disturbed in schizophrenia. In addition, a leading theory of auditory hallucinations (AVH) is that they are intrusive – typically negative – autobiographical memories that are misinterpreted as perceptions.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine the brain functional correlates of recall of negatively emotionally valanced autobiographical memories in patients with schizophrenia, with a longer term aim of comparing patients with and without AVH.Methods11 patients meeting DSM-5 criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 10 age, sex and estimated premorbid IQ-matched healthy controls have so far taken part.Participants underwent functional MRI in a 3T scanner while performing a task requiring them to recall autobiographical memories in response to individually tailored pairs of cue words. The cue words were based on autobiographical memories previously elicited in an interview with each patient and were designed to evoke the same memory. The cue words were presented in 10 20-second blocks interspersed with blocks where the subjects viewed cue words that did not evoke autobiographical memories. Brain activations were examined in three contrasts of interest: memory evoking words vs baseline, neutral words vs baseline and memory evoking vs neutral words.Pre-processing and analysis were carried out with the FEAT module included in the FSL software. Statistical analysis was performed by means of a General Linear Model (GLM) approach.ResultsIn the memory evoking vs baseline contrast the patients showed hypoactivation in the medial frontal cortex compared to the healthy controls (Figure 1). There were no differences in activation between the patients and the controls comparing the memory evoking and neutral cues.Image:ConclusionsThe finding of hypoactivation in the medial frontal cortex compared to low level baseline in patients with schizophrenia suggests dysfunction in the default mode network, which is known to activate during recall of autobiographical memories.These preliminary results suggest that recall of negative autobiographical memories in patients with schizophrenia is associated with reduced activity in the default mode network. A planned larger sample of patients and controls will be used to examine activations in patients with and without AVH.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Posttraumatic stress and autobiographical memory in chronic pain patients.

Search and recovery of autobiographical and laboratory memories: Shared and distinct neural components

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with deficits in autobiographical memory (AM) recall, which is thought to stem from disruptions in effortful recall. Understanding whether these deficits are mitigated when recall is stimulated more directly, such as by odor cues, could inform therapeutic interventions for MDD. To evaluate whether deficits in specific AM recall in MDD are mitigated when odor cues vs word cues are used to prompt memory. This cross-sectional study assessed recall of specific AMs in response to both odor cues and word cues (in a randomized, counterbalanced order) in a repeated measures design. Data were collected between September 2021 and November 2022. The study took place at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania and included adults with a primary diagnosis of MDD, according to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Data were analyzed from January to June 2023. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of specific AMs recalled in response to odor-cued memories vs word-cued memories. Additional outcome measures included ratings of arousal, vividness, repetition, and recall response time for odor-cued memories vs word-cued memories. Thirty-two adults (mean [SD] age, 30.0 [10.1] years; 26 [81.3%] female; 6 [18.8%] male) with a primary diagnosis of MDD completed the study. Participants recalled more specific AMs for odor cues than word cues (mean [SD], 68.4% [20.4%] vs 52.1% [23.3%]; Cohen d, 0.78; P < .001). Additionally, odor-cued recall was rated more arousing (mean [SD], 3.0 [0.8] vs 2.6 [0.7]; Cohen d, 1.28; P < .001) and vivid (mean [SD], 3.3 [0.7] vs 3.0 [0.7]; Cohen d, 0.67; P < .001), and was slower than word-cued recall (mean [SD], 14.5 [3.6] vs 8.9 [3.4] seconds; Cohen d, 1.18; P < .001). When compared with the population mean for word cues in healthy controls (80%), participants recalled fewer specific memories in response to words (Cohen d, 1.18; P < .001), supporting the presence of overgenerality. Notably, the percentage of specific memories recalled in response to odor cues did not differ from the healthy control population mean (Cohen d, 0.26; P = .15). In this cross-sectional study, adults with MDD recalled more specific AMs in response to odor cues compared with word cues. This study suggests that AM deficits may only be observed when verbal cues are used and provides a potential new method for increasing specific AM recall in patients with MDD.

IntroductionSome events are remembered as more central to a person’s identity than others. However, it is not entirely clear what characterizes these autobiographical memories central to one’s identity. In this study, we examined the effects of various characteristics on centrality to identity of positive and negative memories. Characteristics such as emotionality, vividness, and how frequently a memory is retrieved and shared with others as well as ruminative and reflective self-foci were studied.MethodsThe sample included 356 participants (18–92 years of age). First, participants responded to demographic questions and individual difference questionnaires. Next, they recalled memories in response to 12 emotional cue words. The cue words were balanced for emotional valence (i.e., six positive and six negative) and presented in a random order. After retrieving all memories, participants rated them regarding centrality, using the short seven-item Centrality of Event Scale and other memory characteristics, on a seven-point Likert scale. Multivariate multilevel regression was used for data analyzes, to consider multiple characteristics at the same time and account for data dependency within individual.ResultsThe results showed that emotionality, vividness, and frequency of memory retrieval contributed to higher centrality of memories, and employing a reflective self-focus resulted in rating memories as more central. In specific cases, these characteristics were associated differently with centrality of positive and negative memories.DiscussionCentral memories can be perceived as markers in a person’s life story. The findings of this study suggest that these marker events are also highly available in a person’s memory system, by being actively emotional, visually rich, and frequently retrieved. Moreover, not only memory characteristics but also individual’s features are important to fully understand the autobiographical memory centrality.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with deficits in recalling specific autobiographical memories. The current study goal was to assess whether emotionally valenced cue words led to memories of similar emotional valence and whether this pattern differed between 12 unmedicated MDD and 14 healthy control participants. Both groups recalled autobiographical memories in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words. Positive and neutral cues prompted recall of positive memories less often in the MDD group than in the controls. MDD participants recalled fewer specific and more categorical memories than controls; however, the proportion of specific memories didn't differ across memory valences. The MDD group had fewer specific memories in response to positive and neutral cues than the controls. These results suggest that the MDD participants may process positive stimuli differently than healthy controls and that their recall of specific autobiographical memories is impaired, regardless of the affective valence of those memories.

BackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with deficits in recalling specific autobiographical memories (AMs). Extensive research has examined the functional anatomical correlates of AM in healthy humans, but no studies have examined the neurophysiological underpinnings of AM deficits in MDD. The goal of the present study was to examine the differences in the hemodynamic response between patients with MDD and controls while they engage in AM recall.MethodParticipants (12 unmedicated MDD patients; 14 controls) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while recalling AMs in response to positive, negative and neutral cue words. The hemodynamic response during memory recall versus performing subtraction problems was compared between MDD patients and controls. Additionally, a parametric linear analysis examined which regions correlated with increasing arousal ratings.ResultsBehavioral results showed that relative to controls, the patients with MDD had fewer specific (p=0.013), positive (p=0.030), highly arousing (p=0.036) and recent (p=0.020) AMs, and more categorical (p<0.001) AMs. The blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response in the parahippocampus and hippocampus was higher for memory recall versus subtraction in controls and lower in those with MDD. Activity in the anterior insula was lower for specific AM recall versus subtraction, with the magnitude of the decrement greater in MDD patients. Activity in the anterior cingulate cortex was positively correlated with arousal ratings in controls but not in patients with MDD.ConclusionsWe replicated previous findings of fewer specific and more categorical AMs in patients with MDD versus controls. We found differential activity in medial temporal and prefrontal lobe structures involved in AM retrieval between MDD patients and controls as they engaged in AM recall. These neurophysiological deficits may underlie AM recall impairments seen in MDD.

Autobiographical memory (AM) is episodic memory for personally experienced events. The brain areas underlying AM retrieval are known to include several prefrontal cortical and medial temporal lobe regions. Sex differences in AM recall have been reported in several behavioral studies, but the functional anatomical correlates underlying such differences remain unclear. This study used fMRI to compare the neural correlates of AM recall between healthy male and female participants (n = 20 per group). AM recall in response to positive, negative, and neutral cue words was compared to a semantic memory task involving the generation of examples from a category using emotionally valenced cues. Behaviorally, females recalled more negative and fewer positive AMs compared with males, while ratings of arousal, vividness, and memory age did not differ significantly between sexes. Males and females also did not differ significantly in their performance on control tasks. Neurophysiologically, females showed increased hemodynamic activity compared to males in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsal anterior insula, and precuneus while recalling specific AMs (all valences combined); increased activity in the DLPFC, transverse temporal gyrus, and precuneus while recalling positive AMs; and increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, amygdala, and temporopolar cortex when recalling negative AMs. When comparing positive to negative AMs directly, males and females differed in their BOLD responses in the hippocampus and DLPFC. We propose that the differential hemodynamic changes may reflect sex-specific cognitive strategies during recall of AMs irrespective of the phenomenological properties of those memories.

Current concerns in involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories