Organization Of Autobiographical Memory Research Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic as autobiographical period: evidence from an event dating study

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 Pandemic is undoubtedly one of the most impactful and ubiquitous public events in recent history. In this study, we focused on how it affected the organisation of autobiographical memory by examining how often individuals referred to the COVID-19 Pandemic while estimating the date of their autobiographical memories. To that end, we collected word-cued memories from the recent past, event dating protocols, COVID-relatedness ratings, and the transitional impact scores from first-year undergraduates. We found that participants frequently recalled COVID-related memories, and often used the Pandemic as a temporal landmark for dating both COVID-related and unrelated memories. Importantly, reference to the Pandemic in dating estimates was as frequent as the references to other important life periods (high school, university). Despite affecting the lives of these individuals only moderately in psychological and material terms, these data indicate that the Pandemic has become a prominent landmark in autobiographical memory, shaping the way we remember and situate past experiences.

Temporal Organization of Episodic and Experience-near Semantic Autobiographical Memories: Neural Correlates and Context-dependent Connectivity.

Autobiographical memory includes a representation of personal life events with a unique spatiotemporal context (episodic autobiographical memory) and factual self-knowledge (personal semantics). Whereas "experience-far" personal semantics have undergone complete abstraction, "experience-near" personal semantics are still linked to a spatiotemporal context. The representation of one's own past involves an autobiographical knowledge base, in the form of a personal timeline, along which autobiographical information is temporally organized into different lifetime periods. Commonalities and differences between brain networks supporting this temporal organization for autobiographical information with different contextual specificity, however, have not been investigated to date. Here, we used task-based fMRI to assess neural substrates of temporal ordering along the personal timeline for real autobiographical episodic and experience-near personal semantic memories. Within a distributed network, the left calcarine cortex was more strongly activated for episodic autobiographical memory than personal semantics, whereas the left ventromedial pFC and right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), angular gyrus (AG), and anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG) showed stronger activation for personal semantics than episodic autobiographical memory. Findings were confirmed by analyses in independently derived ROIs. Generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses between the same regions showed that, during personal semantics compared with episodic autobiographical memory, memory category modulated activity in the left PCC and right PCC, AG, and aMTG. Findings provide insights on how personal events and facts are represented in the timescale of years, suggesting that the temporal organization of autobiographical memory exploits properties of situation models developed within posteromedial, lateral parietal, and medial prefrontal regions.

Living in history and by the cultural life script: What events modulate autobiographical memory organization in a sample of older adults from Romania?

In the current study, we investigated the organization of autobiographical memory in view of the Living-in-History effect, which is visible when personal memory and historical memory become intertwined. We investigated how often participants dated their own personal recollections with reference to important historical events (such as the Fall of Communism). Furthermore, we also examined whether cultural life script events served as a prominent strategy to date personal memories in our sample of 35 participants ( Mage = 69.76 years, SD = 8.26). This study failed to document the Living-in-History effect, as participants mentioned only few historical events of interest to this study when dating their personal memories. In addition, supporting the Cultural Life Script theory, participants employed culturally transmitted knowledge to navigate through their autobiographical memories. We conclude that for our sample, historically defined autobiographical memories mainly develop when the specific public events affect in a dramatic manner the individuals’ lives.

Output order effects in autobiographical memory in old age: further evidence for an emotional organisation

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.

The possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the contents and organization of autobiographical memory: A Transition-Theory perspective

The COVID-19 Pandemic is unique in its near universal scope and in the way that it has changed our lives. These facts suggest that it might also be unique in its effects on memory. A framework outlined in this article, Transition Theory, is used to explicate the mnemonically relevant ways in which the onset of the Pandemic differs from other personal and collective transitions and how the Pandemic Period might differ from other personally-defined and historically-defined autobiographical periods. Transition Theory also provides the basis for several predictions. Specifically, it predicts (a) a COVID bump (an increase in availability of event memories at the outset of the Pandemic) followed by (b) a lockdown dip (a decrease in availability of event memories from lockdown periods compared to other stable periods). It also predicts that (c) people may consider the Pandemic an important chapter in their life stories, but only when there is little continuity between their pre-Pandemic and post-Pandemic lives. Time will tell whether these predictions pan out. However, it is not too soon to highlight those aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic that are likely to shape our personal and collective memories of this very unusual historical period.

Mental representation of autobiographical memories along the sagittal mental timeline: Evidence from spatiotemporal interference

Time is usually conceived of in terms of space: many natural languages refer to time according to a back-to-front axis. Indeed, whereas the past is usually conceived to be “behind us”, the future is considered to be “in front of us.” Despite temporal coding is pivotal for the development of autonoetic consciousness, little is known about the organization of autobiographical memories along this axis. Here we developed a spatial compatibility task (SCT) to test the organization of autobiographical memories along the sagittal plane, using spatiotemporal interference. Twenty-one participants were asked to recall both episodic and semantic autobiographical memories (EAM and SAM, respectively) to be used in the SCT. Then, during the SCT, they were asked to decide whether each event occurred before or after the event presented right before, using a response code that could be compatible with the back-to-front axis (future in front) or not (future at back). We found that performance was significantly worse during the non-compatible condition, especially for EAM. The results are discussed in light of the evidence for spatiotemporal encoding of episodic autobiographical memories, taking into account possible mechanisms explaining compatibility effects.

Order effects in the recall of autobiographical memories: evidence for an organisation along temporal and emotional features

ABSTRACT Investigating the recall process of autobiographical memories (AMs) and, particularly, the order in which AMs are recalled has the potential to shed light on the organisation of autobiographical memory. However, research on order effects in the recall of AMs is relatively rare. Moreover, to date, no study addressed the question of where emotion fits into the organisation. The present study aimed to close this gap by examining whether emotional valence serves as one organising principle. Data come from 117 older adults (M = 74.11; SD = 7.06) who reported up to 39 AMs. The use of a multivariate multilevel model with autoregressive effects allows us to analyse the order effect within one person, as well as how the order effect differs between persons. The results replicated a temporal first-order effect that has been shown in previous studies and moreover, demonstrated a temporal second-order effect. Furthermore, our results indicated an emotional first-order effect that was even stronger than the temporal first-order effect and an emotional second-order effect. In addition, both first-order effects differed reliably between persons. Thus, the present study emphasises the need for considering emotion in current theoretical formulations of autobiographical memory and also of considering individual differences in the order of AMs recalled.

A positive Living-in-History effect: the case of the fall of the Berlin Wall

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that individuals use a combination of cultural life script events and historical events when dating personal memories, providing evidence for a cultural life script effect and Living-in-History (LiH) effect on the temporal organisation of autobiographical memory. Yet, in contrast to life script events, the LiH effect has only been found for negative events such as war or natural disasters. Therefore, this study tested whether a positive historical event, here the fall of the Berlin Fall, also elicits a LiH effect and whether this effect would differ due to the subsequent changes in life. Comparing West and East Germans, we found a moderate LiH effect for the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germans but not in West Germans. Yet, the LiH effect in East Germans did not relate to the perceived change in life or the valence of the historical event. Additionally, this study replicated the finding that life script events serve as temporal landmarks when navigating through one’s autobiographical timeline.

A Neurocognitive Perspective on the Forms and Functions of Autobiographical Memory Retrieval.

Autobiographical memory retrieval involves constructing mental representations of personal past episodes by associating together an array of details related to the retrieved event. This construction process occurs flexibly so that the event details can be associated together in different ways during retrieval. Here, we propose that differences in how this association occurs support a division in autobiographical remembering. We first review theories of autobiographical memory organization that suggest that episodic details of an experience are processed along a gradient of abstraction. This organization allows for the same autobiographical event to be recalled as either a conceptualized or perceptually-based episodic memory. We then use neuroimaging evidence to show how this division within episodic autobiographical memory is also present in the brain, both at a network level and within the hippocampus. Specifically, we suggest that the anterior and posterior hippocampus are obligatorily tuned towards constructing conceptual vs. perceptual episodic representations of autobiographical memories. Finally, we discuss the directive purpose of this proposed division of episodic remembering by reviewing decision scenarios that benefit from recalling the past as a conceptual vs. a perceptual episode. Conceptual remembering is useful to guide ambiguous decisions that have yet to be encountered whereas perceptual remembering is useful to guide decisions for well-structured tasks that have been previously experienced. We emphasize that the ability to shift between conceptual and perceptual forms of remembering, by virtue of hippocampal specialization, during decision-making and other memory-guided actions is the key to adaptive behavior.

Cognitive psychology and tourism research: state of the art

PurposeThis review aims to discuss concepts and theories from cognitive psychology, identifies tourism studies applying them and discusses key areas for future research. The paper aims to demonstrate the usefulness of cognitive psychology for understanding why tourists and particularly pleasure travellers demonstrate the behaviour they exhibit.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews 165 papers from the cognitive psychology and literature regarding pleasure travel related to consciousness, mindfulness, flow, retrospection, prospection, attention, schema and memory, feelings and emotions. The papers are chosen to demonstrate the state of the art of the literature and provide guidance on how these concepts are vital for further research.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that research has favoured a behaviourist rather than cognitive approach to the study of hedonic travel. Cognitive psychology can help to understand the mental processes connecting perception of stimuli with behaviour. Numerous examples are provided: top-down and bottom-up attention processes help to understand advertising effectiveness, theories of consciousness and memory processes help to distinguish between lived and recalled experience, cognitive appraisal theory predicts the emotion elicited based on a small number of appraisal dimensions such as surprise and goals, knowledge of the mental organisation of autobiographical memory and schema support understanding of destination image formation and change and the effect of storytelling on decision-making, reconstructive bias in prospection or retrospection about a holiday inform the study of pleasurable experience. These findings indicate need for further cognitive psychology research in tourism generally and studies of holiday travel experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThis review is limited to cognitive psychology and excludes psychoanalytic studies.Practical implicationsCognitive psychology provides insight into key areas of practical importance. In general, the use of a cognitive approach allows further understanding of leisure tourists’ behaviour. The concept of attention is vital to understand destination advertising effectiveness, biases in memory process help to understand visitor satisfaction and experience design and so on. Use of cognitive psychology theory will lead to better practical outcomes for tourists seeking pleasurable experiences and destination managers.Originality valueThis is the first review that examines the application of concepts from cognitive psychology to the study of leisure tourism in particular. The concepts studied are also applicable to study of travellers generally.

The Effect of Collective Transitions on the Organization and Contents of Autobiographical Memory: A Transition Theory Perspective.

In this article, we tirst outline a minimalist approach to the organization ot autobiographical memory called transition theory. This theory assumes that the content and organization of autobiographical memory mirror the structure of experience and reflect the operation of basic memory processes. Thus, this approach rests on an analysis of the environment that emphasizes repetition, co-occurrence, change, and distinctiveness. We then report a study that tested a set of predictions derived from transition theory. The predictions concerned both the temporal distribution of memorable personal events and the use of public events and historical periods to date those events. To test these predictions, we collected word-cued memories, event-dating protocols, and historical relatedness ratings from 2 groups of Bosnians; on average, people in the younger group were in their early 40s at the outset of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992); those in the older group were in their mid-50s when they experienced this collective transition. As predicted, participants in both groups produced a robust living-in-history effect, often (-25%) referring to the civil war or the Siege of Sarajevo when dating event memories. They also displayed an upheaval bump, recalling more events from the war years than from prewar and postwar years, and a reminiscence bump, recalling more events from late adolescence and early adulthood than from earlier or later periods. Finally, this study demonstrated, for the first time, the existence of a before/after effect. Specifically, participants often mentioned the war when dating historically unrelated events for the prewar and postwar years. We conclude by considering extensions of transition theory and the significance of our findings for existing models of autobiographical memory.

The Effect of Immigration on the Contents and Organization of Autobiographical Memory: A Transition-Theory Perspective

This study examined how immigration affects the organization and contents of autobiographical memory. The 40 middle-aged individuals who participated in this study were at least in their 30s when relocating from China to Canada. The participants retrieved personal memories in response to neutral cue words, thought aloud as they dated the retrieved memories, assessed the phenomenal properties of retrieved memories, and finally rated the transitional impacts of their relocation to Canada. We observed a robust Living-through-Immigration effect (i.e. frequent reference to relocation in event dating) and a large Immigration Bump. We also confirmed that relocation to Canada was perceived to be a major life transition. Regardless of when they occurred, the recalled events received roughly same mid-scale ratings on importance, self-relevance, distinctiveness and emotional intensity. The findings support the transition-theory prediction that important personal transitions should affect autobiographical memory in much the same way that important collective transitions do.

Retrieving autobiographical memories: How different retrieval strategies associated with different cues explain reaction time differences

Previous research has shown that memories cued by concrete concepts, such as objects, are retrieved faster than those cued by more abstract concepts, such as emotions. This effect has been explained by the fact that more memories are directly retrieved from object versus emotion cues. In the present study, we tested whether RT differences between memories cued by emotion versus object terms occur not only because object cues elicit direct retrieval of more memories (Uzer, Lee, & Brown, 2012), but also because of differences in memory generation in response to emotions versus objects. One hundred university students retrieved memories in response to basic-level (e.g. orange), superordinate-level (e.g. plant), and emotion (e.g. surprised) cues. Retrieval speed was measured and participants reported whether memories were directly retrieved or generated on each trial. Results showed that memories were retrieved faster in response to basic-level versus superordinate-level and emotion cues because a) basic-level cues elicited more directly retrieved memories, and b) generating memories was more difficult when cues were abstract versus concrete. These results suggest that generative retrieval is a cue generation process in which additional cues that provide contextual information including the target event are produced. Memories are retrieved more slowly in response to emotion cues in part because emotion labels are less effective cues of appropriate contextual information. This particular finding is inconsistent with the idea that emotion is a primary organizational unit for autobiographical memories. In contrast, the difficulty of emotional memory generation implies that emotions represent low-level event information in the organization of autobiographical memory.

Living in history and living by the cultural life script: How older Germans date their autobiographical memories

This study examines predictions from two theories on the organisation of autobiographical memory: Cultural Life Script Theory which conceptualises the organisation of autobiographical memory by cultural schemata, and Transition Theory which proposes that people organise their memories in relation to personal events that changed the fabric of their daily lives, or in relation to negative collective public transitions, called the Living-in-History effect. Predictions from both theories were tested in forty-eight-old Germans from Berlin and Northern Germany. We tested whether the Living-in-History effect exists for both negative (the Second World War) and positive (Fall of Berlin Wall) collectively experienced events, and whether cultural life script events serve as a prominent strategy to date personal memories. Results showed a powerful, long-lasting Living-in History effect for the negative, but not the positive event. Berlin participants dated 26% of their memories in relation to the Second World War. Supporting cultural life script theory, life script events were frequently used to date personal memories. This provides evidence that people use a combination of culturally transmitted knowledge and knowledge based on personal experience to navigate through their autobiographical memories, and that experiencing war has a lasting impact on the organisation of autobiographical memories across the life span.

Involuntary autobiographical memory chains: implications for autobiographical memory organization.

OPINION article Front. Psychiatry, 16 December 2014Sec. Mood Disorders https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00183

Role of emotion regulation processes in the organization of autobiographical memories in patients with anorexia

A deficit of emotional regulation is now classically described in the development and maintenance of eating disorders [4]. These difficulties in regulating emotional states are characterized by more limited access to emotion regulation strategies but also a predominant use of unsuitable ones such as avoidance, suppression and lack of flexibility (perseveration of emotional states) [1]. We assume that the use of these emotional strategies could lead to specific recall of autobiographical memories and so a specific construction of their life story and their identity. We showed in a first study [3], that the autobiographical memory of anorexic patients is characterized by an overgeneralization mechanism for both positive and negative memories. The use of such a cognitive avoidance strategy modifies the access to autobiographical emotional memories by retrieving positive or negative memories less specifically. Moreover, this impairment is reinforced by illness duration. In a second study [2], we studied the dynamics of emotions in anorexic patients’ autobiographical speech. The temporal pattern of emotional expression was studied in transforming the autobiographical narratives into symbolic sequences of positive, negative, and neutral emotional expressions. The computed dynamic indices showed in patients’ speech a cycle of negative emotions and silence. These results showed specific dynamics of emotional expression in persons with anorexia characterized by the presence of negative emotional perseveration. These changes in the processes of autobiographical memories organization support the hypothesis of changes in the construction of their identity. We present two methods for a psychotherapeutic work on the construction of autobiographical memory. A first one consists in programs stimulating the specific autobiographical memories by using olfactory or visual media, the other is focused on remediation methods seeking to modify the cognitive and emotional flexibility of these patients [5].

Priming voluntary autobiographical memories: Implications for the organisation of autobiographical memory and voluntary recall processes

The goal of this study was to show that voluntary autobiographical memories could be primed by the prior activation of autobiographical memories. Three experiments demonstrated voluntary memory priming with three different approaches. In Experiment 1 primed participants were asked to recall memories from their elementary school years. In a subsequent memory task primed participants were asked to recall memories from any time period, and they produced significantly more memories from their elementary school years than unprimed participants. In Experiment 2 primed participants were asked to recall what they were doing when they had heard various news events occurring between 1998 and 2005. Subsequently these participants produced significantly more memories from this time period than unprimed participants. In Experiment 3 primed participants were asked to recall memories from their teenage years. Subsequently these participants were able to recall more memories from ages 13–15 than unprimed participants, where both had only 1 second to produce a memory. We argue that the results support the notion that episodic memories can activate one another and that some of them are organised according to lifetime periods. We further argue that the results have implications for the reminiscence bump and voluntary recall of the past.

The specificity and organisation of autobiographical memories

Previous research suggests that autobiographical memories are over-general and are organised according to life periods. One experiment assessed the specificity and organisation of autobiographical memory by manipulating two variables. The retrieval cues were either a set of three words (a theme, a time period, and an emotional valence) or a short narrative that included a specific theme, time period, and emotional valence. The instructions either encouraged the participants to respond as though they were conversing with a friend (social instructions) or did not specify a target audience (standard instructions). Narrative cues and standard instructions elicited more specific responses than word cues and social instructions, respectively. Whereas word cues elicited memories that were most likely to match the cues in terms of time period, narrative cues elicited memories that were most likely to match the cues in terms of theme. These data suggest that previous research underestimated the specificity of the autobiographical knowledge base and overestimated the importance of temporally defined life periods for organising autobiographical memory. Previous conclusions regarding the specificity and organisation of autobiographical memory may reflect the structure of autobiographical narratives and the methodologies used to collect such narratives rather than the content of autobiographical memory itself.

Self-regulatory private speech relates to children's recall and organization of autobiographical memories

Abstract We investigated relations between 4- and 7-year-olds’ ( N = 58) autobiographical memory and their use of self-regulatory private speech in a non-mnemonic context (a cognitive planning task). Children's use of self-regulatory private speech during the planning task was associated with longer autobiographical narratives which included specific rather than general memories and which were recalled with greater narrative cohesion and more evaluative information. Children's use of private speech that served no regulatory function was unrelated to all memory variables. The relations between self-regulatory private speech and autobiographical memory were independent of children's age, general verbal ability, and gender. Our findings are discussed in the context of the social interaction perspective on autobiographical memory development.

Self-images and related autobiographical memories in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness, which affects sense of identity. While the ability to have a coherent vision of the self (i.e., self-images) relies partly on its reciprocal relationships with autobiographical memories, little is known about how memories ground "self-images" in schizophrenia. Twenty-five patients with schizophrenia and 25 controls were asked to give six autobiographical memories related to four self-statements they considered essential for defining their identity. Results showed that patients' self-images were more passive than those of controls. Autobiographical memories underlying self-images were less thematically linked to these self-images in patients. We also found evidence of a weakened sense of self and a deficient organization of autobiographical memories grounding the self in schizophrenia. These abnormalities may account for the poor cohesiveness of the self in schizophrenia.