Autobiographical Memory Interview Research Articles

Autobiographical memory in temporal lobe epilepsy: Role of hippocampal and temporal lateral structures

The present study was aimed at investigating the impact of hippocampal and temporal cortical lesions on remote autobiographical memories in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Episodic specificity, episodic richness, and personal semantic memory from different life periods were assessed using a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) (M.D. Kopelman, A.E. Wilson, A. Baddeley, The autobiographical memory interview. Bury St. Edmunds: Thames Valley Test Co.; 1990) in 47 patients with unilateral mesial or lateral TLE and 38 healthy controls. Patients with TLE performed significantly more poorly than controls. Patients with left and right mTLE were equally moderately impaired, but patients with left lateral TLE had the most severe episodic memory deficits, particularly for childhood memories. With respect to personal semantic memory, patients with left TLE were significantly more impaired than those with right TLE, most pronounced for childhood memories. Both autobiographical memory aspects, episodic and personal semantic memory, were significantly intercorrelated, but both did not correlate with anterograde memory, indicating a structural dissociation between both functions.

Memory and executive dysfunctions associated with acute posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in its chronic form has been associated with a number of neurocognitive impairments involving emotionally neutral stimuli. It remains unknown whether such impairments also characterize acute PTSD. In the present investigation, neurocognitive functions were examined in trauma exposed individuals with ( n = 21) and without ( n = 16) acute PTSD, as well as in a group of individuals never exposed to trauma ( n = 17) using specific and standardized tasks such as the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, the Aggie's Figure Learning Test, the Autobiographical Memory Interview, the D2 test, the Stroop task, the digit and visual span tasks of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III, the Trail Making Test, the Tower of London and the vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III. A number of deficits in the cognitive domains of memory, high-level attentional resources, executive function and working memory were found in the group with a diagnosis of acute PTSD only and not among the other groups. The findings, which point to the possibility of disturbed fronto-temporal system function in trauma-exposed individuals with acute PTSD, are particularly relevant for the early clinical management of this disorder.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Memory Effects of Continuation Electroconvulsive Therapy Versus Continuation Pharmacotherapy

To compare the memory effects of continuation electroconvulsive therapy (C-ECT) versus continuation pharmacologic intervention (C-PHARM) at 12 and 24 weeks after completion of acute electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Eighty-five patients with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-diagnosed unipolar major depressive disorder, enrolled in a multisite, randomized, parallel-design trial conducted at 5 academic medical centers from 1997 to 2004, who had remitted with an acute course of bilateral ECT and remained unrelapsed through 24 weeks of continuation therapy, were included in this analysis. They were randomly assigned to C-ECT (10 treatments) or nortriptyline plus lithium (monitored by serum blood levels) for 24 weeks. Objective neuropsychological measures of retrograde and anterograde memory and subjective assessment of memory were obtained at baseline, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. The Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and the Autobiographical Memory Interview were the primary outcome measures. The C-PHARM group showed a greater group difference (P < .01) for baseline to 12-week change for the Autobiographical Memory Interview. No other memory measures showed group differences for change scores from baseline to 12 weeks. Groups showed no baseline to 24-week change-score differences on any of the memory measures. For both groups, 12-week objective anterograde memory scores (eg, Auditory-Verbal Learning Test percent retention P = .0001; Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure or Taylor Figure percent retention P < .002) and 24-week subjective memory scores were significantly improved (Squire Subjective Memory Questionnaire P < .02) over baseline. This result reflects the apparent resolution of a presumed decrement in anterograde memory associated with acute ECT preceding this study. The finding of no memory outcome differences between unrelapsed recipients of C-ECT and C-PHARM is consistent with clinical experience. Memory effects have only a small role in the choice between C-ECT and C-PHARM.

Impaired capacity for autonoetic reliving during autobiographical event recall in mild Alzheimer's disease

The capacity to mentally travel back in time and relive past events via autonoetic consciousness has been shown to be compromised even in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To further understand the unravelling of the recollective experience in pathological ageing, we investigated autobiographical memory (ABM) using the Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview (EAMI) in thirty middle-aged and thirty healthy elderly controls, and twenty patients with mild AD. Of key interest was the recall of contextual details and the behavioural markers predictive of autonoetic reliving. AD patients exhibited significant difficulties in recalling contextual details across all life epochs on the EAMI manifesting in a negative temporal gradient from the Early Adulthood epoch onwards. Overall there was a low incidence of autonoetic consciousness during ABM recall across all participant groups and life epochs when compared with previous studies. AD patients showed a compromised capacity to mentally relive past memories (AD < healthy elderly < middle-aged controls), across all life epochs on the EAMI. AD patients tended to recall past events as semanticised accounts divested of rich sensory–perceptual imagery. The impoverished capacity to generate egocentric or self-referential imagery resulted in the production of fragmented and depersonalised accounts of formerly evocative events and likely stems from medial temporal and frontal pathology exhibited from early stages of the disease.

Writing a structured abstract for the thesis

BackgroundStudies investigating recognition memory (RM) in schizophrenia report a selective deficit in autonoetic awareness and intact levels of noetic awareness for visual stimuli. It has been suggested that abnormalities in autonoetic awareness result from a breakdown in frontal strategic memory processes involved in encoding and retrieval and executive functions linked to reality monitoring and decision making.AimsThe aims of this thesis were to investigate four predictions arising from these proposals: (1) If decrements in autonoetic awareness arise from a ‘central’ impairment, then these abnormalities should not be domain-specific; (2) if autonoetic awareness abnormalities arise from a breakdown in executive processes, then these abnormalities should correlate with executive dysfunction; (3) because autonoetic awareness is a necessary correlate of episodic memory, then patients with schizophrenia should also be impaired in contextual memory; and (4) autonoetic awareness abnormalities are likely to be more severe in schizophrenia, a condition associated with marked executive dysfunction relative to major depressive disorder, in which executive dysfunction is less marked.MethodThe remember/know paradigm was used to investigate RM across four modalities (verbal, visual, auditory and olfactory) in three groups: patients with schizophrenia (N=19), patients with major depressive disorder (N=21), and normal controls (N=24). A subgroup of the same schizophrenia patients (N=14) were also tested for temporalorder memory for words, line drawings and abstract drawings. Autobiographical memory was assessed in patients using the Autobiographical Memory Interview. Executive function and working memory were assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Letter-Number Sequencing Test, respectively.ResultsAutonoetic awareness abnormalities were evident in patients with schizophrenia for voices (p&lt;0.05) and smells (p&lt;0.05). These deficits were restricted to schizophrenia, with patients with major depressive disorder performing intermediate to both schizophrenia patients and normal controls. A subgroup of the same schizophrenia patients also exhibited impaired temporal-order memory (p&lt;0.05), but this impairment was restricted to words and also evident in patients with major depressive disorder (p&lt;0.05). Executive dysfunction and reduced working memory was restricted to patients with schizophrenia, but none of these measures correlated with decrements in autonoetic awareness or temporal-order memory. Autobiographical memory for both patient groups was within the normal range.Conclusions: Impaired autonoetic awareness for voices and smells in the same cohort of schizophrenia patients provide some support for proposals that abnormalities in autonoetic awareness stem from a breakdown in ‘central’ rather than domain-specific processes. Furthermore, these patients were also impaired for temporal-order memory, which suggests that strategic memory processes were also implicated in these schizophrenia patients.

Awareness of memory functioning, autobiographical memory and identity in early-stage dementia

Sense of identity is thought to be closely related to autobiographical memory. Theoretical models of awareness suggest that both may also be related to level of awareness of memory functioning among people with early-stage dementia. This study explores the relationships between autobiographical memory, identity and awareness in early-stage dementia. Thirty participants with Alzheimer's disease, or vascular or mixed dementia were assessed using the Autobiographical Memory Interview, with an additional section eliciting recall for the mid-life period, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and the Memory Awareness Rating Scale. Lower levels of awareness of memory functioning were associated with poorer autobiographical recall for the mid-life period and with a more positive and definite sense of identity. Reduced awareness may serve a protective function against the threats to self posed by the onset and progression of dementia.

Early Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Cognitive Function

Routine screening of cognitive function during a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is recommended in several guidelines. However, there is little evidence regarding which measures are practical, change early in treatment, and are likely to predict longer term cognitive problems. We aimed to investigate the practicality of early formal cognitive screening in routine clinical practice of ECT. Thirty-three patients aged 25 to 84 years were recruited from 2 ECT clinics. Assessment consisted of the Rey Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), The Short Form of the Colombia University Autobiographical Memory Interview, Digit Span Forwards and Backwards, and Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MSE) and was conducted at baseline, between the third and the fourth treatment of ECT and 2 months after the last treatment. Analysis examined which measures changed after 3 treatments and whether this correlated with change at the 2 month follow-up. After 3 treatments, there was a significant reduction in immediate (F1,27 = 14; P = 0.001) and 30-minute delayed (F1,25 = 34; P < 0.001) recall of the RAVLT. There was also a significant reduction in autobiographical memory score but no significant change in digit span or 3MSE. There was no correlation between reductions in scores on the RAVLT and The Short Form of the Colombia University Autobiographical Memory Interview, after 3 treatments and reductions at 2 month follow-up. This small pilot study suggests that significant changes in memory function can be detected as early as after 3 treatments of ECT and that such monitoring can be done in routine clinical practice. There was, however, no evidence that these changes correlated with longer term changes.

Assessment of Behavioural Markers of Autonoetic Consciousness during Episodic Autobiographical Memory Retrieval: A Preliminary Analysis

There is ongoing theoretical debate regarding episodic memory and how it can be accurately measured, in particular if the focus should be content-based recall of episodic details or something more experiential involving the subjective capacity to mentally travel back in time and “re-live” aspects of the original event. The autonoetic subscale of the Episodic Autobiographical Memory Interview (EAMI) is presented here as a new test instrument that attempts to redress theoretical and methodological shortcomings in autobiographical memory assessment. The EAMI merges a phenomenological detail-based approach with an assessment of autonoetic consciousness, departing considerably from traditional Remember/Know paradigms used within this field. We present findings from an initial pilot study investigating the potential markers of autonoetic consciousness that may accompany episodic retrieval. Key behavioural indices of autonoetic consciousness, notably those of viewer perspective, visual imagery, and emotional re-experiencing, emerged as being inextricably bound with the level of phenomenological detail recalled and the overall re-living judgment. The autonoetic subscale of the EAMI permits conceptually refined assessment of episodic personal memories and the accompanying subjective experience of mental re-living, characteristic of episodic memory.

Overgeneral memory for public and autobiographical events in depression and schizophrenia

Introduction. Memory for public and autobiographical events was investigated in people diagnosed with depression, schizophrenia, and a group of healthy controls. The aim was to determine whether the overgeneral memory effect emerged in clinical conditions other than depression and in memory domains other than autobiographical. Methods. 36 participants, 12 in each group, were administered four measures comprising the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI), and a Public Events Memory Test; the latter developed by the authors and based on the AMT. Results. A pattern of overgeneral autobiographical memory retrieval was found in both clinical groups. A similar pattern in retrieval of public events was also found in people diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia, indicating that overgeneral memory was characteristic of neither clinical condition nor was it associated with a particular memory domain. Conclusions. The findings suggest that overgeneral memory retrieval may represent a fundamental flaw in memory that arises when resources are limited. These findings are discussed in light of current theories of overgeneral memory retrieval.

The Fate of Old Memories after Medial Temporal Lobe Damage

Damage to the hippocampal region and related medial temporal lobe structures (perirhinal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal cortices) impairs new learning (anterograde amnesia) as well as memory for information that was acquired before the damage occurred (retrograde amnesia). We assessed retrograde amnesia with the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and with a news events test in six patients with damage limited primarily to the hippocampal region (H group) and two patients with large medial temporal lobe lesions (MTL group). On the news event test, the H group exhibited temporally limited retrograde amnesia covering approximately 5 years. On the same test, the MTL group exhibited an extensive retrograde amnesia covering decades. Nevertheless, performance was relatively spared for very remote time periods. On the AMI, all patients had intact remote autobiographical memory. Because our patients with hippocampal lesions, as well as our patients with large MTL lesions, performed normally on the AMI, patients who perform poorly on the same test presumably have damage beyond the hippocampus and related structures in the medial temporal lobe. The findings emphasize the difference in the extent of retrograde amnesia associated with hippocampal lesions and large MTL lesions.

A Retrospective Controlled Study into Memory Complaints Reported by Depressed Patients After Treatment with Electroconvulsive Therapy and Pharmacotherapy or Pharmacotherapy Only

Few studies have been conducted comparing complaints of memory problems using objective and subjective memory scales in depressed patients who received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) + pharmacotherapy or treatment with pharmacotherapy only. Patients who suffer from depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (Fourth Edition) criteria and who were admitted within the past 5 years before this study in a general psychiatric hospital were screened for inclusion. Objective retrograde amnesia was assessed using the Autobiographical Memory Interview and the Amsterdam Media Questionnaire (AMQ). Subjective retrograde amnesia was assessed using the Squire Subjective Memory Questionnaire and the ECT Retrograde Amnesia and Perception Scale (ERAPS), a newly developed scale. Twenty of the 84 patients who received ECT + pharmacotherapy and 30 of the 196 patients who received pharmacotherapy only participated in the study. Patients' ERAPS memory scores were compared with proxies' ERAPS memory scores of the patients to assess the reliability of memory complaints. The ECT + pharmacotherapy group was found to suffer more from memory problems using the AMQ 1990 test. There was also a difference for the proxy's ERAPS memory score, reflecting the conviction of proxies from the ECT + pharmacotherapy patients that these patients suffer more memory problems due to the illness, treatment with pharmacotherapy, or ECT. The differences could not be explained by the influence of determinants for retrograde amnesia. ECT + pharmacotherapy patients did not attribute their memory problems mainly to ECT but put equal "blame" on the depressive illness, treatment with pharmacotherapy, and ECT. The analyses suggest that the AMQ 1990s test is (more) sensitive in registering retrograde amnesia than the other scales used in the study.

The Cognitive Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community Settings

Despite ongoing controversy, there has never been a large-scale, prospective study of the cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). We conducted a prospective, naturalistic, longitudinal study of clinical and cognitive outcomes in patients with major depression treated at seven facilities in the New York City metropolitan area. Of 751 patients referred for ECT with a provisional diagnosis of a depressive disorder, 347 patients were eligible and participated in at least one post-ECT outcome evaluation. The primary outcome measures, Modified Mini-Mental State exam scores, delayed recall scores from the Buschke Selective Reminding Test, and retrograde amnesia scores from the Columbia University Autobiographical Memory Interview-SF (AMI-SF), were evaluated shortly following the ECT course and 6 months later. A substantial number of secondary cognitive measures were also administered. The seven sites differed significantly in cognitive outcomes both immediately and 6 months following ECT, even when controlling for patient characteristics. Electrical waveform and electrode placement had marked cognitive effects. Sine wave stimulation resulted in pronounced slowing of reaction time, both immediately and 6 months following ECT. Bilateral (BL) ECT resulted in more severe and persisting retrograde amnesia than right unilateral ECT. Advancing age, lower premorbid intellectual function, and female gender were associated with greater cognitive deficits. Thus, adverse cognitive effects were detected 6 months following the acute treatment course. Cognitive outcomes varied across treatment facilities and differences in ECT technique largely accounted for these differences. Sine wave stimulation and BL electrode placement resulted in more severe and persistent deficits.

Remote Memory in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

The present study aims at characterizing remote memory in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE); it also considers the impact of its most important variables (lateralization of the lesion, duration of epilepsy, age at onset, and seizure frequency) on remote memory. We examined the performance of 38 patients with unilateral TLE (19 right TLE and 19 left TLE) and 35 healthy subjects on six remote memory tasks. Memory for personal events was assessed by using the Autobiographical Memory Interview and the Modified Crovitz Test. Memory for public events was evaluated by means of photographs of famous faces and famous scenes, questions about famous events, and the Dead/Alive Test. Both right-TLE and left-TLE groups had impaired memory for autobiographic episodes and public events relative to normal subjects. In contrast, personal semantic memory was preserved. In addition, an effect of laterality was recorded, with right-TLE patients obtaining significantly better scores than left-TLE patients on every test. Duration of epilepsy, age at onset, and seizure frequency did not influence performance on remote memory measures. The comprehensive neuropsychological study of 38 TLE patients showed that this neurologic condition affects remote memory systems differently. We discuss the different factors that could account for this pattern of performance on the bases of both functional brain organization and memory theories.

Investigating the Enhancing Effect of Music on Autobiographical Memory in Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

The enhancing effect of music on autobiographical memory recall in mild Alzheimer’s disease individuals (n = 10; Mini-Mental State Examination score >17/30) and healthy elderly matched individuals (n = 10; Mini-Mental State Examination score 25–30) was investigated. Using a repeated-measures design, each participant was seen on two occasions: once in music condition (Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ movement from ‘The Four Seasons’) and once in silence condition, with order counterbalanced. Considerable improvement was found for Alzheimer individuals’ recall on the Autobiographical Memory Interview in the music condition, with an interaction for condition by group (p < 0.005). There were no differences in terms of overall arousal using galvanic skin response recordings or attentional errors during the Sustained Attention to Response Task. A significant reduction in state anxiety was found on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory in the music condition (p < 0.001), suggesting anxiety reduction as a potential mechanism underlying the enhancing effect of music on autobiographical memory recall.

Cognitive Function and Dissociative Disorder Status Among Veteran Subjects With Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Preliminary Study

Cognitive Function and Dissociative Disorder Status Among Veteran Subjects With Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Preliminary Study

Patterns of autobiographical memory loss in dementia

Several studies have found impaired recall of remote autobiographical memories relative to recent memories in semantic dementia (SD), a pattern opposite to that in Alzheimer's disease (AD). To document dissociation of memory for autobiographical incidents and personal semantic information in individuals with AD, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and SD. The authors administered the Autobiographical Memory Interview to eight individuals with AD, 11 with FTD, eight with SD, and eight normal controls . Autobiographical incidents and personal semantic memory was assessed from three time periods: childhood, early adulthood, and recent life. Individuals with SD recalled more details of autobiographical incidents from the most recent 5 years than from childhood and early adulthood (childhood vs recent life: t(7) = -3.59, p = 0.009; early adulthood vs recent life: t(7) = -4.33, p = 0.003). No difference was found between childhood and early adulthood (t(7) = 1.11, p = 0.305). Recall of personal semantic information was related to the age of the memory with less remembered from earlier time periods (childhood vs recent life: t(7) = -6.52, p < 0.001; childhood vs early adulthood: t(7) = -2.61, p = 0.035; early adulthood vs recent life: t(7) = -9.15, p < 0.001). SD is a compelling model in which to study the anatomy of episodic memory.

Retrieval of autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease: Relation to volumes of medial temporal lobe and other structures

The representation of autobiographical memory is distributed over a network of brain structures, with the medial temporal lobe (MTL) at its epicenter. Some believe that, over time, all memories become independent of their MTL component ("consolidation theories"). Others have suggested that this is true only of semantic memory, while episodic aspects of autobiographical memories are dependent on the MTL for as long as they exist, such as multiple trace theory (MTT). In the present study, the volumes of 28 brain regions, including the MTL, and their relation to autobiographical memory were investigated in a group of patients with Alzheimer's disease with varying degrees of retrograde memory loss as assessed by the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI). We used the multivariate analysis method of partial least squares (PLS) to assess patterns of atrophy that can lead to retrograde amnesia. We found that different aspects of autobiographical memory were associated with different patterns of tissue loss. Personal semantics were related to a pattern of bilateral anterior and posterior lateral temporal cortex degeneration, more pronounced on the left, as well as right frontal degeneration. Autobiographical event memory ("episodic") was associated with combined atrophy in bilateral MTL and anterior lateral temporal neocortex, more pronounced on the right. This pattern was invariant for memories from childhood, early adulthood, and recent memories, in line with the predictions of MTT, suggesting that MTL tissue is crucial for retrieval of episodic memories regardless of their age.

Memory of myself: Autobiographical memory and identity in Alzheimer's disease

A number of theories posit a relationship between autobiographical memory and identity. To test this we assessed the status of autobiographical memory and identity in 20 individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 20 age‐matched controls, and investigated whether degree of autobiographical memory impairment was associated with changes in identity. Two tests of autobiographical memory (Autobiographical Memory Interview, autobiographical fluency) and two measures of identity (Twenty Statements Test, identity items of the Tennessee Self Concept Scale) were administered. AD participants exhibited significant impairments on both memory tests, and changes in the strength, quality, and direction of identity relative to controls. Impairments of some components of autobiographical memory, particularly autobiographical memory for childhood and early adulthood, were related to changes in the strength and quality of identity. These findings support the critical role of early adulthood autobiographical memories (16–25 years) in identity, and suggest autobiographical memory loss affects identity.

Lost for Words or Loss of Memories? Autobiographical Memory in Semantic Dementia

Recent reports have suggested that patients with semantic dementia show a loss of early (remote) auto‐biographical memories with pronounced sparing of recent memories (Graham & Hodges, 1997; Snowden, Griffiths, & Neary, 1996), i.e., a ‘reversed’ temporal gradient or ‘Ribot effect’. At first sight, these findings suggest that the deficits in ‘semantic’ dementia go beyond the semantic domain, involving aspects of autobiographical (episodic) memory. It has also been proposed that there is a ‘step‐like’ function with personal memories preserved for 18 months to 2 years in the immediate past. This view is consistent with the theory that the hippocampal complex/medial temporal lobe (relatively intact in semantic dementia) plays a time‐limited role in the acquisition and storage of memories, while the temporal neocortex (damaged in semantic dementia) is required for long‐term storage and retrieval. In this study we ask whether (a) previous tests have underestimated the integrity of remote memory in semantic dementia as a result of not allowing for these patients' comprehension and language production difficulties, and (b) whether a recency effect, if obtained, is genuinely step‐like or more graded. We used a cued autobiographical memory interview with semantic dementia patient, IH, to examine the effect of providing increasingly specific lexical cues to probe salient events throughout his lifespan. Results demonstrated that the provision of specific cues enabled IH to access and express memories from his childhood and early adulthood as well as from more recent times. There was a gentle recency effect only for intermediate levels of cueing, indicating that recent memories were easier to retrieve and/or express in the absence of specific cues, but this effect was graded, with no evidence of a step‐like cut‐off at 18 months or 2 years before testing. In brief, our findings are consistent with the view that the deficits in semantic dementia are predominantly or exclusively semantic, rather than involving the storage of autobiographical memories per se.

Validating reports of poor childhood memory

AbstractRecent evidence indicates that judgements about the quality of one's own childhood memory can be influenced experimentally, for example by manipulating ease of retrieval. This has led to the suggestion that judgements of poor memory made by clients in therapy may not be reliable. We therefore investigated whether individuals who judge themselves to have poor memory for their childhood do in fact score worse on a standardized test of autobiographical memory. Matched groups of individuals reporting poor and normal memory for childhood were administered the Autobiographical Memory Interview. Consistent with a previous study of neurological patients, subjective judgements were associated with performance on both personal semantic memory and autobiographical incident memory. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.