Involuntary Memory Research Articles

Involuntary Autobiographical Memory in Alzheimer's Disease: A Double-Edged Way of Remembering the Past?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by severe memory alterations, affecting especially memories of personal past events. Until now, autobiographical memory impairments have been characterized using formal memory assessments, requiring patients to strategically and deliberately recall past events. However, contrary to this highly cognitively demanding mode of memory recall, autobiographical memories frequently come to mind unexpectedly based on automatic associative processes. The involuntary recall of personal memories is effortless and possibly represents a preserved way for AD patients to remember past events. This study aimed to investigate involuntary autobiographical memory in AD patients and compare the characteristics of these memories with those of healthy controls. Involuntary autobiographical memory was measured in 24 AD patients and 24 matched control participants using self-report measures. Participants were asked to report the frequency with which involuntary autobiographical memories were experienced in their daily life and to describe and self-assess one example of an involuntary memory. We showed that AD patients and control participants did not differ in terms of the frequency or subjective characteristics of their involuntary autobiographical memories in daily life, except for feelings of intrusiveness. Compared to control participants, AD patients reported their involuntary autobiographical memories as being more intrusive. In addition, more negative and vague involuntary autobiographical memories were associated with greater depressive symptoms. These findings open up a new avenue for research to better understand the extent to which involuntary autobiographical memory might be preserved in AD patients and why these memories may in turn become intrusive to patients.

Semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming: the role of cue repetition

ABSTRACT It is now well established that general information processing causes the activation of memories in the autobiographical memory system, and these memories on occasion emerge as involuntary autobiographical memories. This priming phenomenon has been dubbed semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming, and our goal in the current study was to examine the effects of cue/prime repetition on the production of involuntary autobiographical memories that were primed with semantic stimuli. In three experiments, participants were primed with words (e.g., cat), and then they were given an involuntary memory task (the vigilance task), which contained cues related to the primed stimuli. In Experiment 1, the cues were phrases containing the primes (e.g., getting a cat), which were presented one or five times. In Experiment 2, the cues were also phrases containing the primes (e.g., getting a cat), but they changed their context (e.g., feeding a cat), every time they repeated in the five-presentation condition. Experiment 3 also presented the cues one or five times, but the cues were replicas of the primes (e.g., cat). Consistent with predictions, greater priming was found in the five-presentation cue conditions in all three experiments, and Experiment 3 failed to find priming in the one-presentation cue condition, also consistent with predictions. We explain the findings in terms of semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming theory, and also argue that the results help explain the production of involuntary memories in everyday life.

Metafora e memoria in Proust

Proust gave metaphor both stylistic and theoretical centrality. In his view, metaphor is not a mere substitute for literal expression but performs a cognitive function, bringing to light relations and aspects of reality that would otherwise remain unexplored. The article intends to show that the reminiscences of involuntary memory also possess a metaphorical structure. Just as a pars destruens and a pars construens coexist in metaphor, in authentic reminiscence the deconstruction of a linear and abstract temporality is the indispensable premise of reconfiguring the past that makes its meaning flash forth in unprecedented possibilities.Like metaphor, involuntary memory must enact categorical transgression. It must suspend previous categories and classifications to bring out the rich web of relationships that permeates every fragment of our existence. Finally, just as metaphor redescribes reality under the banner of metamorphosis, so involuntary memory transforms the usual relationships between past and present. The artwork born from the epiphanies of involuntary memory will adopt an expressive practice capable of interweaving reality and imagination, perception and memory, objectivity, and subjectivity.

The Influence of Instructional Constraints and Cognitive Control on the Positivity Bias and the Positivity Effect in Autobiographical Memory.

The positivity effect and the positivity bias were examined in voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memories in a sample of younger (n = 69, Mage = 23.2) and older adults (n = 57, Mage = 67.72). The positivity effect has been shown to be sensitive to instructional constraints and cognitive resources. Instructions were manipulated in the voluntary autobiographical memory condition such that participants were instructed to retrieve memories with different levels of constraints. Participants also completed two measures of cognitive control and an assessment of future time perspective. There was no evidence of the positivity effect or positivity bias once depressive symptoms were included as a covariate in the analyses, nor did cognitive control influence memory valence. Future time perspective did not mediate the relationship between age and memory valence. These results suggest that additional research should focus on potential variables that may influence the positivity effect and bias within autobiographical memories.

Semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming occurs when stimuli are presented below the threshold of awareness

A number of studies have now shown that general information processing causes the activation of memories in the autobiographical memory system. These studies have shown that general processing of words, sounds, objects, or pictures primes autobiographical memories on voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memory tasks (the Crovitz cue-word task and the vigilance task). Deemed semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming, our goal in the current study was to demonstrate that this form of priming causes the unconscious activation of autobiographical memories (autobiographical automaticity) at the point of priming. Participants named words under subliminal and supraliminal conditions and then received a test of priming (the vigilance task). The results showed that words that were processed below the threshold of awareness were equally likely as words processed above the threshold of awareness to prime the production of involuntary autobiographical memories on the vigilance task. The results support the idea that autobiographical memory activations in semantic-to-autobiographical priming is both unintentional and unconscious.

Semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming: the role of stimulus processing.

It is now well established that semantic processing can cause the activation of memories in the autobiographical memory system. Studies have shown that semantic processing of words, sounds, objects, or pictures primes autobiographical memories on voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memory tasks (the Crovitz cue-word task and the vigilance task). Known as semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming, our goal in the current study was to demonstrate that this form of priming occurs under different forms of processing (i.e., shallow versus deep), and that some forms of processing (e.g., visual mental imagery) may enhance priming in this domain. In Experiment 1, equivalent semantic-to-autobiographical priming was obtained on the vigilance task following shallow (e-counting) and deep (meaning judgements) word processing. In Experiment 2, word meaning judgements were compared to visual imagery of word meanings, and visual imagery led to more semantic-to-autobiographical priming on the vigilance task than meaning judgements. The results of these experiments support the idea that semantic-to-autobiographical priming occurs under a wide range of processing conditions, supporting a ubiquity claim, with some conditions producing more priming than others, and they further support the idea that this form of may play an important role in the production of involuntary memories in everyday life.

Studying naturally occurring involuntary autobiographical memories with the diary approach: A comparison of diary methods

AbstractOur aim in the current study was to examine how different diary methods might impact the results of involuntary memory studies. We compared three different commonly used diary methods, record all memories experienced per day, record up to two memories per day, or record only the first two per day. Results showed that the record‐all group had the most memories, and in all conditions, more memories were recorded during the first week compared to the second week. Additionally, results showed that the record any‐two group reported more perceptually cued memories compared to the other two conditions, and the record‐all group reported the most memory cued memories. The record‐all group reported being the most confident in their involuntary memories. The results may help explain some discrepancies in the literature, and they may assist future researchers by allowing them to tailor their methods according to their research questions.

Movement refrains of people with visual impairments: A post-phenomenological geography beyond space and place

Abstract The paper intervenes in current discussions within post-phenomenological geography. It analyzes the movement of people with visual impairments in order to develop an approach to post-phenomenology that emphasizes the in-betweenness of bodies in motion. Our perspective differs from phenomenological (and humanistic) geographies and from post-phenomenological geographies that are rooted in object-oriented ontology. They both rely on the differentiation between space and place, accept pointillism, treat places as points in space, time as exclusively chronological, and bodies as beings, not becomings. We analyze data from interviews with people with visual impairments. We first consider their movement through the perspective of humanistic (particularly phenomenological) geography. After acknowledging the limits of this approach, we turn to our actualized conception of post-phenomenological geography, which draws on Deleuze’s concepts of movement, path, refrain, and involuntary memory. With this conceptual repertoire, we go beyond the space-place dichotomy and highlight the in-betweenness and virtuality of movement. We explore difference-producing repetitions, which are constituted through refraining into paths. Our approach conceptualizing movement as “refraining into paths” is instrumental to studying the movement of people with visual impairment: It helps to dispute ableism, and it enriches the current discussion about post-phenomenological geography in its insistence on relations and becoming.

Bergson and Durational Performance: (Re)Ma(r)king Time

In his text, Bergson and Durational Performance, author James Layton, through his unyielding, embodied-intellectual engagement with the philosophical, psychological, and sociological realms of the durational performances he participated in, forces his reader to slow down. Permitting the flow of thought to flourish, as a reader I embraced involuntary memory, pondered truth, and took breaks without feelings of guilt. More than “respite from a socially accelerated culture” (p130), reading at this revised pace enabled me to reflect on how I can achieve an “increased ownership of selfhood in a late-capitalist society which champions the participation of everyone and marginalizes those who are less fearful of being left behind” (p249).

Recurrent involuntary memories and mind wandering are related but distinct.

Spontaneous thought is common in daily life, and includes recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively) and mind wandering (MW). Both recurrent IAMs and MW are often unintentional or unconstrained, and both predict symptoms of mental health disorders. However, not all MW is unintentional, and not all IAMs are unconstrained. To what extent do recurrent IAMs and MW converge versus diverge? Undergraduates (N = 2,701) completed self-report measures of recurrent IAMs, trait MW, and psychopathology (i.e., PTSD, depression, anxiety). Regressions indicated that recurrent IAMs were significantly associated with spontaneous MW, but not deliberate MW. Further, both spontaneous MW and recurrent IAMs had unique relationships with disorder symptoms. Results suggest that recurrent IAMs are related to MW to the extent that recurrent IAMs are spontaneous. Conversely, recurrent IAMs are distinct from MW to the extent that recurrent IAMs' associations with disorder symptoms could not be solely explained by trait MW (and vice versa). This work highlights related, but distinguishable, forms of spontaneous thought and their transdiagnostic links with psychopathology.

Stimulus-elicited involuntary autobiographical memories

The reflexive imagery task (RIT) has been used to investigate stimulus-elicited involuntary mental processes. The task has been successful in eliciting involuntary perceptual experiences, urges, and even higher-order cognitions, but it has never been used to elicit autobiographical memories, even though in everyday life these memories are often activated involuntarily by external stimuli. These memories are different in interesting ways from the kinds of mental representations that have been activated involuntarily in the RIT. The memories have properties which might make them insusceptible to such a form of external influence. Perhaps substantive effects will not arise because the mental representations associated with autobiographical memories are complex, poly-sensory, and rich in terms of content. To investigate this matter, we developed a variant of the RIT in which participants were presented with external stimuli (line drawings of everyday objects) and instructed not to recall any autobiographical memories. We investigated whether the nature of the involuntary memories was influenced by the nature of the stimulus. In two experiments, the involuntary memories were associated to the stimulus on a majority of the trials (∼80%). We discuss theoretical implications of this finding and of identifying the conditions in which such involuntary effects will not arise. The boundary conditions of the RIT effect illuminate the limits of unconscious processing and also the role of conscious processing in nervous function.

Obtaining semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming on the vigilance task with non-verbal cues.

Recent research has shown that the activation of semantic memories leads to the activation of autobiographical memories. Known as semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming, this form of priming has been demonstrated to prime involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories with a wide variety of different primes (i.e., various verbal and non-verbal stimuli). However, only verbal cues have been used in the memory measures, leaving open the question of how non-verbal cues might function. Our goal in the current study was to show that non-verbal cues are also involved in semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming. Participants were primed with words, and then they were treated to an involuntary autobiographical memory task (the vigilance task) where they received either word cues or pictorial cues. The results showed that both the word cues and the pictorial cues had captured primed involuntary memories on the vigilance task relative to controls. The results support the idea that semantic-to-autobiographical memory primes occur with both verbal and non-verbal cues, potentially indicating substantial cue diversity. The results also further support the idea that semantic-to-autobiographical memory priming may play an important role in the production of involuntary autobiographical memories in everyday life.

Proust and involuntary retrieval.

Proust was undoubtedly a pioneer in exploring cognitive processes engaged in memory. The analysis of the episode of the madeleine, as well as the study of Proust's statements on the goals of his work, clearly reveal the visionary side of this author. Long before several concepts entered into mainstream scientific thought, Proust proposed, among other things, that recall was a reconstruction, that a sensory cue could provoke a memory recall, and that we should distinguish between voluntary and involuntary memory. Through numerous episodes of "involuntary reminiscence" scattered throughout his work, Proust illustrates a particular form of autobiographic memory recall: a recall that does not involve consciousness and whose starting point is an emotion provoked by a specific cue. This recall, which leads, according to Proust, to a more intense revival of the memory than voluntary recall, has only reached prominence in cognitive science more than 80 years later. Additionaly, Proust underlined the determinant role that emotion may have in this particular form of recall. On the other hand, studies on animals have shown that the presentation of a retrieval cue could induce emotional reactions followed by a facilitation of the memory retrieval associated with the cue. The existence of these data, which support Proust's proposals, should encourage the neuroscience community to further explore, in humans and animals, this form of cue elicited emotion that initiated involuntary recall of autobiographical memory.

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories

Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) are memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively. We examined whether the phenomenology and content of recurrent IAMs could differentiate boredom and depression, both of which are characterized by affective dysregulation and spontaneous thought. Participants (n = 2484) described their most frequent IAM and rated its phenomenological properties (e.g., valence). Structural topic modeling, a method of unsupervised machine learning, identified coherent content within the described memories. Boredom proneness was positively correlated with depressive symptoms, and both boredom proneness and depressive symptoms were correlated with more negative recurrent IAMs. Boredom proneness predicted less vivid recurrent IAMs, whereas depressive symptoms predicted more vivid, negative, and emotionally intense ones. Memory content also diverged: topics such as relationship conflicts were positively predicted by depressive symptoms, but negatively predicted by boredom proneness. Phenomenology and content in recurrent IAMs can effectively disambiguate boredom proneness from depressive symptoms in a large sample of undergraduate students from a racially diverse university.

Effects of affectively-loaded childhood-related photos from the IAPS on the induction of involuntary autobiographical memories in young and older adults.

Aging produces changes in emotional reactivity and the retrieval of autobiographical memories. The main aim of this study was to assess age-related differences, comparing emotion induction and autobiographical memory recall using photos from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) that are thematically related to childhood. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted, with the participation of 327 individuals (168 young adults and 159 older adults) with no cognitive impairment and aged between 18 and 88 years. We showed the participants a set of five pictures from the IAPS, the affective content of which was related to childhood. Two of these were considered to be positive images, two negative and one neutral, according to the valence of these pictures in the literature. The main study variables were the reactions associated with emotional valence or pleasure, arousal and dominance, after viewing the photos, and the autobiographical memories retrieved by the participants. The younger adults retrieved a larger number of memories than their older counterparts. As regards the responses to the five affective pictures (IAPS) on valence, arousal and dominance (IAPS), statistically significant differences were only found for pictures 2,345 (BlackEye), with a more positive valence in the group of older adults and higher arousal in the young ones, and 2,312 (Mother), with a more positive valence in the group of older persons. A greater number of memories were retrieved for the photos that generated higher levels of pleasure, greater relaxation and greater emotional control. Of the variables that may be associated with the elicitation of involuntary autobiographical memories, the most significant are age and a positive stimulus.

The frequency and cueing mechanisms of involuntary autobiographical memories while driving

ABSTRACT Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) have been typically studied with paper diaries, kept for a week or longer. However, such studies are unable to capture the true frequency of IAMs, nor the level of detail that would give new insights into the mechanisms of IAMs. To address this gap, a new audio-recording method was developed and tested on the first author who recorded 674 IAMs while driving a car on a 30–40-minute-long habitual route on 20 occasions. Results revealed very high frequency of IAMs (almost 34 per journey) that were reported more often in response to dynamic (one-off) than static cues. Moreover, a substantial number of memory chains and long-term priming of IAMs by previously encountered incidental stimuli were also recorded. Based on these results, a new theoretical model is proposed in which the occurrence of IAMs is determined by an interplay of factors at the time of the IAM, such as the type of ongoing activity and internal or external triggers, as well as different types of long-term priming. The results also have practical implications for studying mind-wandering and safety issues in driving and aircraft-flying, where periods of concentration are followed by monotony and less demanding tasks.

Specific topics, specific symptoms: linking the content of recurrent involuntary memories to mental health using computational text analysis

Researchers debate whether recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; memories of one’s personal past retrieved unintentionally and repetitively) are pathological or ordinary. While some argue that these memories contribute to clinical disorders, recurrent IAMs are also common in everyday life. Here, we examined how the content of recurrent IAMs might distinguish between those that are maladaptive (related to worse mental health) versus benign (unrelated to mental health). Over two years, 6187 undergraduates completed online surveys about recurrent IAMs; those who experienced recurrent IAMs within the past year were asked to describe their memories, resulting in 3624 text descriptions. Using a previously validated computational approach (structural topic modeling), we identified coherent topics (e.g., “Conversations”, “Experiences with family members”) in recurrent IAMs. Specific topics (e.g., “Negative past relationships”, “Abuse and trauma”) were uniquely related to symptoms of mental health disorders (e.g., depression, PTSD), above and beyond the self-reported valence of these memories. Importantly, we also found that content in recurrent IAMs was distinct across symptom types (e.g., “Communication and miscommunication” was related to social anxiety, but not symptoms of other disorders), suggesting that while negative recurrent IAMs are transdiagnostic, their content remains unique across different types of mental health concerns. Our work shows that topics in recurrent IAMs—and their links to mental health—are identifiable, distinguishable, and quantifiable.

Recovered memories of trauma as a special (or not so special) form of involuntary autobiographical memories.

Recovered memories of trauma are memories of traumatic events experienced generally during childhood, but of which the persons were unaware until they retrieved it. Legal decisions are sometimes based on such recovered memories, the validity of which is often questioned. Yet, people can recover genuine traumatic memories of childhood abuse. In this paper, we present and further discuss the idea that recovered traumatic memories can be interpreted in the context of the autobiographical memory framework. Specifically, we argue that recovered memories may be accessed after exposure to incidental cues that initiate unexpected spontaneous memory retrieval. Thus, we relate the recovered memory phenomenon to involuntary autobiographical memories and argue that it is an example of highly stressful, emotionally negative, and intense involuntary memories that were yet never recalled. This novel, evidence-based perspective leads us to reconsider the examination of the validity of eyewitness testimony as a continuum ranging from the least valid form (i.e., memories recovered in highly suggestive context facilitating its factitious reconstruction) to the most valid form (i.e., memories that were triggered by cues without any person's voluntary engagement), and this in relation with how internal (e.g., age and internal cue) or external (e.g., suggestion in therapy, suggestion during investigative interview, and contextual cue) factors may influence memory retrieval. Finally, we propose several recommendations for experts that may be useful in assessing the validity of a testimony based on recovered memories.

Involuntary versus voluntary episodic memories: The effects of encoding factors and emotion.

Involuntary versus voluntary episodic memories: The effects of encoding factors and emotion.

Divine and Human Providence: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches

Divine and Human Providence: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches