Reduced Memory Specificity Research Articles

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity as an emotional avoidance strategy in opioid-dependent patients.

This study investigates the reduced specificity of autobiographical memories in opioid-dependent patients and examines whether this phenomenon corresponds to an avoidance strategy in opioid-dependent patients and among the general population. Thirty opioid-dependent patients and 30 control participants were given Williams’ and Scott’s Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to evaluate the level of memory specificity. The use of cognitive avoidance strategy was measured with the Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire (CAQ) and the level of depression with the Beck Depression 13 inventory (BDI 13). The AMT results confirm reduced memory specificity in the dependent patients, both for dependent patients with a depression diagnosis and for nondepressive dependent patients. Results also depict that the more participants (patients and control) use cognitive strategies of avoidance, the less they recall specific memories with the AMT. These data support the emotional avoidance hypothesis of reduced memory specificity in opioid-dependent patients and in the general population, regardless of a diagnosis of depression. Further research is needed to identify the emotion regulation function of reduced specificity in dependent patients. Furthermore, our findings do not exclude the implication of other mechanisms within autobiographical memory retrieval bias for dependent patients, such as a deficit of executive control.

P.7.e.001 Risk behaviours and psychiatric symptoms among adolescents in European schools

Reduced memory specificity (RMS) is a robust finding in (previously) depressed patients and patients suffering from posttraumatic symptoms. It has been associated with depression severity, rumination, and – more recently – with cue content (e.g., cues referring to highly discrepant self-guides are assumed to hinder specific memory retrieval more likely than cues that match one’s self-concept). In this study we have investigated the presence of these relationships in 34 patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). All participants completed the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ), the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS). First, it was observed that both rumination and depression severity were associated with RMS. However, when confounding between rumination and depression severity was considered using partial correlations, only depression severity was found to be significantly associated with RMS. Second, in the currently depressed BPD patients (n = 11), memory specificity was significantly related to cue content suggesting that, at least for depressed BPD patients RMS is related to the extent to which cues activate highly discrepant personal domains. Although our data suggest that depression severity as well as current depression (in interaction with cue content) play an important role in the occurrence of RMS in BPD, we will discuss that these findings could be moderated by posttraumatic stress and/or executive functioning.

Concurrent and prospective associations of habitual overgeneral memory and prospection with symptoms of depression, general anxiety, obsessive compulsiveness, and post-traumatic stress

Reduced memory specificity is associated with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some other forms of psychopathology. Reduced memory specificity is also associated with reduced specificity of envisioned future events. Research in this area has mostly relied on cue-word methods that include explicit instructions to develop specific memories of future events. These methods are limited in their ability to assess how participants habitually remember the past and imagine the future when the specificity constraints inherent in the cue-word task are removed. Sentence completions tasks have been developed that can be used to assess habitual patterns of memory and prospection. Little is known about the association of habitual memory and prospection with concurrently and prospectively assessed psychopathology. In the current study 142 participants completed sentence completion tasks tapping habitual memory and prospection at baseline and completed measures tapping psychological symptoms at baseline and 1 year later. Among other things, it was found that reduced memory specificity (but not reduced future specificity) was associated with concurrent and later depression, as well as with symptom levels of PTSD tapped 1 year beyond baseline.

Reduced Specificity in Episodic Future Thinking in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of the most common disorders following trauma, has been associated with a tendency to remember past personal memories in a nonspecific, overgeneral way. The present study investigated whether such a bias also applies to projections of future personal events. Trauma survivors (N = 50) generated brief descriptions of imagined future experiences in response to positive and negative cues in a future-based Autobiographical Memory Test. Survivors with PTSD imagined fewer specific future events in response to positive, but not to negative, cues, compared to those without PTSD. This effect was independent of comorbid major depression. Reduced memory specificity in response to positive cues was related to appraisals of foreshortened future and permanent change. Training to enhance specificity of future projections may be helpful in PTSD and protect against potentially toxic effects of autobiographical memory overgenerality.

Reduced goal specificity is associated with reduced memory specificity in depressed adults

Models of autobiographical memory suggest a close association between memories, future imagination and setting specific personal goals. However this association has yet to be tested with depressed individuals. The aim of this study was to examine whether the specificity of remembering past and imagining future personal events is associated with the specificity of approach and avoidance goals in depressed individuals. Two samples comprising adults who met criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD; N=30) and adults who had no prior history or current depression (N=30) completed autobiographical memory and future event tests, and a personal goal task. In the depressed sample, the specificity with which participants remembered the past was significantly associated with the specificity with which they generated future goals. The depressed sample also elicited fewer specific approach and avoidance goals compared to the non-depressed sample. These findings suggest that an overgeneral memory deficit extends to impairments in goal specificity.

Autobiographical memory specificity in child sexual abuse victims

The present study examined the specificity of autobiographical memory in adolescents and adults with versus without child sexual abuse (CSA) histories. Eighty-five participants, approximately half of whom per age group had experienced CSA, were tested on the autobiographical memory interview. Individual difference measures, including those for trauma-related psychopathology, were also administered. Findings revealed developmental differences in the relation between autobiographical memory specificity and CSA. Even with depression statistically controlled, reduced memory specificity in CSA victims relative to controls was observed among adolescents but not among adults. A higher number of posttraumatic stress disorder criteria met predicted more specific childhood memories in participants who reported CSA as their most traumatic life event. These findings contribute to the scientific understanding of childhood trauma and autobiographical memory functioning and underscore the importance of considering the role of age and degree of traumatization within the study of autobiographical memory.

Autobiographical memory and differentiation of schematic models in substance-dependent patients

Background and objectivesThis study aims at investigating reduced autobiographical memory specificity in substance-dependent patients. We examined whether this phenomenon is related to undifferentiated schematic models of self and to depression and anxiety levels. We also investigated the maintenance of these impairments after early clinical remission. MethodsSeventy-three dependent patients (including 30 active users, 23 methadone-maintained patients, 20 early abstinent patients) and 31 control participants were given Williams’ and Scott’s Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to evaluate the level of memory specificity. Depression and anxiety levels were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the ability of differentiation in affect-related schematic models of self with the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). ResultsDependent patients recall less specific memories than control individuals to the AMT. For all the participants, only the ability to differentiate emotional states predicts the level of specificity, whereas reduced specificity is not linked to depression and anxiety levels. The results also show that reduced specificity is still observable in methadone-maintained patients and in abstinent patients. LimitationsDespite the absence of difference in the level of memory specificity in the three groups of dependent patients, we cannot state that reduced memory specificity is stable over time because non-active consumers may not remain in remission for a long period. ConclusionsOnly a lack of emotional differentiation seems to impede the access to specific memories in dependent patients and in general population. The reduced memory specificity observed in dependent patients seems to last after recent clinical improvement.

Investigating the relationships between autobiographical remembering, the self and posttraumatic stress disorder in individuals with HIV

A bidirectional relationship is proposed between the self and memory whereby autobiographical memories develop, express and maintain the self and the self implements control over autobiographical remembering (Conway, 2005). The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between self-concept, autobiographical remembering and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) in individuals with HIV living in Iran. Participants were individuals with HIV (n = 61) and healthy nontrauma-exposed controls (n = 59). Participants completed Farsi versions of the Autobiographical Memory Test, Autobiographical Memory Interview, the “I AM” task and the Impact of Event–Revised. It was found that the HIV group provided fewer specific memories, had reduced semantic and episodic recall and provided fewer self-statements than the control group. Reduced autobiographical memory specificity was significantly correlated with recalling fewer self-statements and deficits in episodic memory mediated the relationship between group and fewer self-statements provided. Finally, proportion of HIV-themed self-statements correlated significantly with reduced memory specificity when age and education were included as covariates. The findings are discussed in regards to current psychological models of self and memory.

Reduced memory specificity predicts the acquisition of problem solving skills in psychoeducation

Background and objectivesResearch has shown that overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) is a valid predictor for the course of depression. It is not known, however, whether OGM also moderates information uptake and consolidation in a psychoeducation program to prevent stress, anxiety and depression. The present study was designed to investigate whether the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams, & Broadbent, 1986) is a valid predictor for the actual unfolding of skills learned through psychoeducation. MethodsThe questionnaire included primarily the AMT and the Stress Anxiety Depression Means-Ends Problem Solving Questionnaire (SAD-MEPS). It was filled in prior to and after the psychoeducational course by 23 participants. ResultsCorrelations were calculated for the AMT at baseline and the differences between the pre and post measurements on the SAD-MEPS. Significant correlations were observed between the number of specific responses and the changes in the number of relevant means (r = .49, p < .01). LimitationsThe sample size was rather small, but several checks were able to reduce the chance of spurious findings. ConclusionsThese findings may have important implications for the guidance to and the setup of psychoeducational interventions. Suggestions include screening and memory specificity training prior to course commencement.

Reduced specificity of negative autobiographical memories in repressive coping

The current study examined memory specificity of autobiographical memories in individuals with and without a repressive coping style. It seems conceivable that reduced memory specificity may be a way to reduce accessibility of negative experiences, one of the hallmark features of a repressive coping style. It was therefore hypothesized that repressors would show reduced specificity when retrieving negative memories. In order to study memory specificity, participants (N = 103) performed the autobiographical memory test. Results showed that individuals with a repressive coping style were significantly less specific in retrieving negative experiences, relative to control groups of low anxious, high anxious, and defensive high anxious individuals. This result was restricted to negative memory retrieval, as participants did not differ in memory specificity for positive experiences. These results show that repressors retrieve negative autobiographical memories in an overgeneral way, possibly in order to avoid negative affect.

Memory specificity in borderline personality disorder: Associations with depression and self-discrepancy

Reduced memory specificity (RMS) is a robust finding in (previously) depressed patients and patients suffering from posttraumatic symptoms. It has been associated with depression severity, rumination, and – more recently – with cue content (e.g., cues referring to highly discrepant self-guides are assumed to hinder specific memory retrieval more likely than cues that match one’s self-concept). In this study we have investigated the presence of these relationships in 34 patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). All participants completed the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ), the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS). First, it was observed that both rumination and depression severity were associated with RMS. However, when confounding between rumination and depression severity was considered using partial correlations, only depression severity was found to be significantly associated with RMS. Second, in the currently depressed BPD patients (n = 11), memory specificity was significantly related to cue content suggesting that, at least for depressed BPD patients RMS is related to the extent to which cues activate highly discrepant personal domains. Although our data suggest that depression severity as well as current depression (in interaction with cue content) play an important role in the occurrence of RMS in BPD, we will discuss that these findings could be moderated by posttraumatic stress and/or executive functioning.

Autobiographical memory specificity and symptoms of complicated grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder following loss

This study examined the specificity and content of autobiographical memories among bereaved individuals. Self-report measures of bereavement-related distress and a standard and trait version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) were administered to 109 bereaved people. We examined associations of memory specificity with (a) demographic and loss-related variables and with (b) symptom-levels of complicated grief (CG), depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), (c) associations of the content of memories (related vs. unrelated to the loss/lost person) with symptoms, and (d) the degree to which associations of symptom-levels with memory specificity and content differed between the standard and trait version of the AMT. Findings showed that (a) memory specificity varied as a function of age, education, and kinship; (b) reduced memory specificity was significantly associated with symptom-levels of CG, but not depression and PTSD; (c) symptom-levels of CG and PTSD were associated with a preferential retrieval of specific memories that were related to the loss/lost person on the standard AMT, whereas all three symptom-measures were associated with preferential retrieval of loss-related specific memories on the trait AMT; and (d) on the trait AMT, but not the standard AMT, symptom-measures remained significantly associated with a preferential retrieval of loss-related specific memories, when controlling for relevant background variables. Among other things, these results show that reduced memory specificity is associated with self-reported CG-severity but not depression and PTSD following loss. Moreover, the results are consistent with recent research findings showing that memories tied to the source of an individual’s distress (e.g., loss) are immune to avoidant processes involved in the standard reduced specificity effect.

Effects of suppressing negative memories on intrusions and autobiographical memory specificity

AbstractThis study examines whether avoidance of negative memories results in intrusions as well as reduced memory specificity. Healthy participants suppressed memories of either a negative or a neutral autobiographical event. Individuals who suppressed negative memories tended to demonstrate smaller increases in negative mood than those who did not suppress their negative target memory. Neither suppression nor valence of the to‐be‐suppressed memory predicted decreases in memory specificity. Target memory‐related intrusions during autobiographical memory retrieval predicted larger reductions in specific memory recall. Our findings are discussed in terms of affect regulation and other accounts of over‐general memory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Associations between components of rumination and autobiographical memory specificity as measured by a Minimal Instructions Autobiographical Memory Test

Clinical studies have shown that rumination functions as a mediator between overgeneral memory—the tendency to retrieve autobiographical memories in a non-specific format—and depression. Recently, rumination has been dismantled into two distinct subcomponents: reflection, which is more adaptive, and brooding, which is more maladaptive. In the present study we examined the differential relationships of these two rumination subcomponents with autobiographical memory specificity and their mediational role for the relationship between reduced memory specificity and depression in a non-clinical sample. In addition, we investigated the usefulness of a “minimal instructions” version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to measure memory specificity in non-clinical populations. Results indicated that the use of minimal instructions can increase the AMT's sensitivity to detect reduced autobiographical memory specificity in non-clinical individuals. Further it was found that brooding, and not reflection, is significantly associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity and functions as a mediator between reduced memory specificity and depression.

Prepartum autobiographical memory specificity predicts post-traumatic stress symptoms following complicated pregnancy

Prior research has shown that reduced autobiographical memory specificity predicts an increase in post-traumatic stress severity in traumatised individuals. Studies have also demonstrated that reduced memory specificity predicts later symptoms of depression after pregnancy-related life stress. So far, no reported studies have tested the predictive value of memory specificity at the onset of a potentially traumatic situation. Therefore the aim of the present study was to investigate whether prenatal memory specificity would predict post-traumatic stress after complicated pregnancy. The results demonstrate that women who retrieved fewer specific memories with a pregnancy-related content to positive cues during pregnancy (i.e., directly after hospitalisation) reported more post-traumatic stress 6 weeks after giving birth. This relationship remained significant after controlling for variables that were related to both baseline autobiographical memory specificity and later post-traumatic stress. A similar pattern was found for depression symptomatology, even when somatic symptoms were excluded from the analyses. Taken together, these data suggest that the relationship of memory specificity with later depression can be generalised to post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity predicts depression and posttraumatic stress disorder after recent trauma.

In this prospective longitudinal study, the authors examined the relationship between reduced specificity in autobiographical memory retrieval and the development of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and specific phobia after injury in an assault. Assault survivors (N = 203) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986) at 2 weeks after the trauma as well as structured clinical interviews at 2 weeks and 6 months. Participants with acute stress disorder or major depression at 2 weeks, but not those with phobia, retrieved fewer specific autobiographical memories than those without the respective disorder. Reduced memory specificity at 2 weeks also predicted subsequent PTSD and major depression at 6 months over and above what could be predicted from initial diagnoses and symptom severity. Moderator analyses showed that low memory specificity predicted later depression in participants with prior episodes of major depression but not in those without prior depression. Mediation analyses suggested that rumination partly mediated and perceived permanent change fully mediated the effects of low memory specificity on posttrauma psychopathology at follow-up.

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity and posttraumatic stress: Exploring the contributions of impaired executive control and affect regulation.

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memories retrieved to word cues on the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is associated with increased posttraumatic stress in traumatized samples. Theoretical debates concerning the dominant influences on this effect have focused on affect regulation, whereby specific personal information is avoided more by those experiencing greater distress, versus compromised executive control, whereby increased distress is associated with an inability to set aside inappropriately general responses on the AMT. The present study compared these 2 views in a correlational design using a reversed version of the AMT (the AMT-R) for which trauma-exposed participants (N=36) had to generate general memories from the past and avoid specific memories. An emphasis on the role of affect regulation would predict that distress would be associated with reduced specificity (as in the standard AMT), whereas emphasis on the role of executive control would predict that this relationship would be reversed. The data supported the affect regulation account, with greater posttraumatic stress being associated with reduced memory specificity.

Autobiographical memory specificity and affect regulation: coping with a negative life event

Two decades of research have shown that depressed patients experience significant difficulties retrieving specific autobiographical memories. Importantly, reduced autobiographical memory (AM) specificity is a known vulnerability factor for depression and is predictive of a more chronic course. One of the models that has been put forward to explain the origin of this reduced specificity is the affect-regulation model, which assumes that being less specific might help to prevent negative or painful emotions by recalling events in a less specific way. This avoidant memory style might have beneficial effects in the short run (less emotional impact of stressful events) but is detrimental in the long run. The affect-regulation model, and more in particular the beneficial short-term effect of reduced memory specificity, was investigated in a prospective study. Students were followed over a period of 9 weeks after they failed at their first exams at university. In line with the affect-regulation model, memory specificity predicted the course of symptoms that were experienced as a result of failing these exams. The less specific the student, the less durable the emotional distress over this 9-week period. The correlational nature of this study limits to some extent the conclusions that can be drawn. The results offer support for the affect-regulation account of reduced autobiographical memory specificity.

The role of autobiographical memory specificity in deliberate self-harm: Correlates and consequences

Background Several studies have identified reduced specificity of autobiographical memory in deliberate self-harm (DSH) patients. However it is not clear which clinical variables are associated with low memory specificity in this group, or whether low specificity is particularly associated with recent DSH. Method 68 individuals followed up seven years after an index episode of DSH were re-interviewed and data collected on current psychiatric disorder, repetition of DSH in the intervening period and autobiographical memory specificity. Data on history of sexual and physical abuse during childhood were available from the index assessment. Results A hierarchical regression analysis identified older age, current affective disorder and level of familial sexual abuse during childhood as independent predictors of reduced memory specificity. Sixteen participants who had a further episode of DSH in the year prior to the current assessment were classified as having ‘recent’ DSH. Results of logistic regression suggest that low memory specificity mediates the association between childhood sexual abuse and recent DSH and partially mediates the association between current affective disorder and recent DSH. Limitations The results are based on a relatively small sample of patients from a mixed clinical group, limiting the statistical power of the analysis. Conclusions The findings confirm the association between low memory specificity and DSH. They are consistent with a multi-factorial model of impaired specificity and suggest that low specificity may be one of the mechanisms through which abuse history and affective disorder increase an individual's vulnerability to deliberate self-harm.

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity and affect regulation

The effect of specificity of autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval on the affective impact of an emotional event was examined. In Study 1 (N = 90) the impact of a negative and positive experience was compared between student participants who habitually retrieve autobiographical memories (AMs) in a specific way and participants who generally retrieve less specific memories. In Study 2 (N = 48) the effect of an experimentally induced (specific vs. overgeneral) retrieval style on the impact of a negative experience was studied in student participants who habitually retrieve less specific memories. Study 1 replicated the finding of Raes, Hermans, de Decker, Eelen, & Williams (2003) that a negative event leads to less subjective distress in low‐specific participants as compared with high‐specific participants. However, both groups did not differ in their affective reaction to a positive event. Important, reduced memory specificity was associated with “repressive coping”, providing further evidence for the idea that reduced memory specificity is used as an avoidant or repressive‐defensive mechanism to regulate negative affect (Williams, 1996). In Study 2, participants who were induced to retrieve memories in an overgeneral way experienced more distress following a negative event as compared with participants who were induced to retrieve memories in a specific way. Results are discussed in the context of recent findings concerning AM specificity and emotion regulation (Philippot, Schaefer, & Herbette, 2003). Directions for further research are suggested.