Specificity and valence of adolescents' turning point memory narratives: Relationships with depressive symptoms over time.

Although recent research suggests that, for community youth, greater specific (episodic) detail in self-relevant turning point memory narratives predicts depressive symptoms over time, no research has investigated whether the narratives' specificity similarly predicts depression. Therefore, we investigated whether recalling a specific (unique, 24-hour or less) turning point narrative predicted youth depressive symptoms concurrently and across 6 months (Study 1), and, for a subset of participants, three years (Study 2). We also examined whether the valence of the implication of the experience for self (the resolution) explained additional variance and interacted with memory specificity. For Study 1 (N = 320, M = 16.9 years, 81% female), a specific (rather than a non-specific) turning point predicted greater depressive symptoms concurrently but not longitudinally, whereas a negative resolution predicted both concurrent and longitudinal depressive symptoms. The moderation result showed that a specific turning point predicted escalating depressive symptoms across six months when the resolution was negative. Study 2 (N = 68) additionally showed that a specific turning point predicted increased depressive symptoms three years later. These findings contrast with research suggesting that specific memories are related to better mental health and highlight the complexity of the role of memory in emerging youth depression.

Dimensions of a hyper memory: investigating the factors modulating exceptional retrieval in a single case of highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM).

Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) is a rare form of exceptional memory, characterised by an ability to recall personal episodes in response to dates. The single case "DT" is one of less than 100 HSAM individuals globally, and little is known about how these individuals organise the vast number of events they can recollect. We administered 2 novel priming tasks to explore navigation between autobiographical memories. In both tasks, a "prime" date appeared on the screen and DT was instructed to access and begin reliving a specific memory from that date. After 3 s, a "target" date appeared, and DT switched to the new memory. Latencies were recorded. Experiment 1 explored the influence of emotional valence on memory navigation. DT was quicker moving from positive or negative memories to neutral memories, compared to between neutral memories, supporting the role of emotionality in connecting memories in HSAM. Experiment 2 investigated semantic content and mental timeline configuration's role in organisation. DT was faster moving forward (e.g., 1996-1997) than backwards (e.g., 2023-2022), indicating a forwards perception of time. No differences were observed regarding semantic content. Results provide insight into DT's memory dimensions and support the use of this task to explore organisation.

Overestimating the intensity of negative feelings in autobiographical memory: evidence from the 9/11 attack and COVID-19 pandemic.

When recalling autobiographical events, people not only retrieve event details but also the feelings they experienced. The current study examined whether people are able to consistently recall the intensity of past feelings associated with two consequential and negatively valenced events, i.e. the 9/11 attack (N = 769) and the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 726). By comparing experienced and recalled intensities of negative feelings, we discovered that people systematically recall a higher intensity of negative feelings than initially reported - overestimating the intensity of past negative emotional experiences. The COVID-19 dataset also revealed that individuals who experienced greater improvement in emotional well-being displayed smaller biases in recalling their feelings. Across both datasets, the intensity of remembered feelings was correlated with initial feelings and current feelings, but the impact of the current feelings was stronger in the COVID-19 dataset than in the 9/11 dataset. Our results demonstrate that when recalling negative autobiographical events, people tend to overestimate the intensity of prior negative emotional experiences with their degree of bias influenced by current feelings and well-being.

Contextualized hippocampal-cortical dynamics underlying traumatic memory.

In a recent study, Clancy et al. elucidate a connection between activity patterns of the hippocampus (HC) and the broader functional connectivity networks associated with trauma-related intrusive memories (TR-IMs). This neurophenomenological methodology situates the HC within a larger neural framework and provides a nuanced exploration of the neurobiological underpinnings of distinct characteristics of TR-IMs.

Dissociative Amnesia: Remembrances Under Cover.

The existence or questionability of "repressed memories" can be discussed as being a matter of definition. It seems, however, far-fetched to consider all "lost" memories as caused by encoding problems, brain damage, forgetfulness, failure to disclose events, and so on. We argue that dissociative amnesia (DA) (or "psychogenic amnesia," or "functional amnesia," or, as we favor to call it, "mnestic block syndrome") is caused by psychic alterations, but ultimately they can be traced to changes in the physiology of the brain, as we are of the opinion that all memory processes-positive or negative-alter brain functions, sometimes more permanently, sometimes transiently. We have proven this idea using functional imaging techniques, in particular fluoro-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography. Having investigated dozens of patients with severe and long-lasting DA conditions, we believe it to be disrespectful to many (but not to all) of the affected patients to question their disease condition, which can be proven to be not caused by feigning, malingering, or direct brain damage.

Visual hallucinations of autobiographical memories: a single-case study.

Introduction: We report an epileptic patient who experienced hallucinatory visual experiences of autobiographical memories from her past. These visual experiences were confined to the lower left quadrant of her visual field.Methods: We carried out a single-case study that used brain-imaging, EEG and behavioural methods to study this patient.Results: We found that this patient had an incomplete left inferior homonymous quadrantanopia due to a lesion of right occipital cortex, and also that she showed neurological abnormalities in right temporal cortex, a region that is part of the brain's autobiographical-memory circuit.Conclusion: We attribute the occurrence of this patient's autobiographical-memory hallucinations to the combination of degraded visual input to right temporal cortex plus hyperexcitability of that region.

Evidence-Based Reconstruction of Memories of a Disdainful Hookup: Identifying Risk Factors and Preventing Further Victimization.

Autobiographical memories of close relationships have been shown to have strong influence in health and life. Yet, there is no research published about longitudinal memory reconstruction of violent sporadic relationships while reading and discussing scientific evidence on gender violence victimization. This article presents a novel case of the reconstruction throughout time of the memory of a disdainful hookup experienced by a young woman. The victim's diary and an interview were the sources of data collection. The analytical categories were developed in dialogue with the participant. The results indicate that, as the subject learned scientific evidence on gender violence in sporadic relationships, she progressively recalled details of the episode that she had self-censored before, became aware of the very violent nature of the hookup, rejected the relationship, and freed her desire for satisfactory romantic relationships.

The stability of life script and life story events of Nigerian young adults across religion and gender.

The cultural life scripts are shared semantic knowledge of the expected life course in a given culture characterised by a bump for positive events in the second and third life decades, but none for negative events [Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2004). Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Memory & Cognition, 32, 427-442. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195836]. We investigated the stability of Nigerian young adults' life scripts and life stories across religion and gender. One-hundred-and-seventy-four participants completed the life script and life story tasks, and the revised religious orientation scale. We found that the life scripts and life stories consisted of mainly positive events with a reminiscence bump located in the 10s and 20s; however, we also found a small bump for negative events. There was a high mention rate of religion-specific events in both the life scripts and life stories of participants across religion and gender. The level of religiosity had effects on the importance ratings of the life scripts and life stories. In sum, despite minor variations, the life scripts and life stories were consistent across religion and gender.

Measuring narrative identity: rater coding versus questionnaire-based approaches.

Narrative identity - how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past - is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare. To begin to fill this gap, the present study compared the narrative variables, temporal coherence, causal coherence, and thematic coherence, measured via rater coding of participants' self-generated narratives of the remembered past and via subscales of the self-report measure Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ). The results showed that the ANIQ subscales did not correlate significantly with their corresponding rater-coded dimension, and that the ANIQ subscales were generally unrelated to the other rater-coded dimensions. Furthermore, an exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the ANIQ subscales loaded together on a factor that did not include any rater-coded variables. The findings suggest that the narrative variables share little empirical overlap when assessed via the ANIQ and rater coding of self-generated narratives.

Improving access to psychological intervention in low-middle income settings: Results from a waitlist-controlled, proof-of-concept trial of the MemFlex intervention for trauma-exposed Afghan youth.

BACKGROUND: Low-intensity interventions targeting a range of mental health issues offer a scalable approach for young trauma survivors in low-middle income countries. AIMS: Here, we present results from a proof-of-concept, randomized, waitlist-controlled trial evaluating MemFlex, an autobiographical memory-based intervention, for trauma-exposed Afghan youth residing in Iran. MemFlex seeks to reduce the negative and overgeneral memory biases which maintain and predict poor mental health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Young people aged 12-18 years (N = 40) with parents who had experienced forced migration from Afghanistan were recruited from high schools in Karaj City in Iran. All had experienced a traumatic event in the last year. Participants were randomized to receive four weeks of a group-based delivery of MemFlex or Waitlist. Our primary cognitive outcome was autobiographical memory flexibility, that is, the ability to deliberately retrieve any memory type on demand. Primary clinical outcome was emotional distress, measured on the Farsi version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. RESULTS: Results indicated that MemFlex participants demonstrated large effect sizes for pre-to-post improvement in memory flexibility (d = 2.04) and emotional distress (d = 1.23). These improvements were significantly larger than Waitlist (ds < .49), and were maintained at three-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: Positive benefits were observed for completion of MemFlex, and future comparison against an active intervention appears warranted. CONCLUSION: Further evaluation of MemFlex in this context may offer a low-cost, and low-resource intervention to improve access to psychological intervention for young migrants in low-middle income countries.

Autobiographical phenomenology of memories of fiction.

Most autobiographical memories are based on real-life experiences, but memories of fiction have many similarities to real-life autobiographical memories. However, the phenomenological nature of this similarity, the potential differences between media types, and the role of individual differences need further investigation. Based on previous findings, we expected differences between media types on emotional intensity, sensory vividness, and confidence about the recall. To provide insight into these issues, we collected one real-life autobiographical memory and one memory of fiction (book, film, or video game) from 291 participants. We asked them to rate their memories phenomenologically. The participants also provided information regarding their motivations for engaging with fictional stories. Our results show phenomenological differences in several dimensions between media types and differences in the similarity of media types to real-life memories. While absorption seems to be a good predictor for immersion, escapism tendency is a motivation to engage with fiction frequently.

Understanding the structure of autobiographical memories: A study of trauma memories from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

How do we remember traumatic events, and are these memories different in individuals who experience post-traumatic stress? Some evidence suggests that traumatic events are mnemonically enhanced, or include more episodic detail, relative to other types of memories. Simultaneously, individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have more non-episodic details in all of their memories, a pattern hypothesized to result from impairment in executive function. Here, we explore these questions in a unique population that experienced severely traumatic events more than 20 years ago - individuals who lived through the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Participants recalled events from the genocide, negative events unrelated to the genocide, neutral events, and positive events. We used the Autobiographical Interview method to label memory details as episodic or non-episodic. We found that memories from the genocide showed robust mnemonic enhancement, with more episodic than non-episodic details, and contained more details overall than any other memory type. This pattern was not impacted by post-traumatic stress. Overall, this study provides evidence that traumatic events create vivid long-lasting episodic memories, in this case even more than 20 years later.

The phenomenological experience of autobiographical memory in patients with behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia.

In this study, we offer a comprehensive assessment of the phenomenological experience of patients with behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) upon retrieval of autobiographical memory. We invited patients with bvFTD and control participants to retrieve autobiographical memories and rate, for each memory, its phenomenological characteristics. We also analyzed the retrieved memories regarding specificity (i.e., whether the memory described a general or a detailed event). Results demonstrated that, compared to control participants, patients with bvFTD attributed lower levels of reliving, back in time (feeling as if going back in time), remembering, realness, visual imagery, auditory imagery, language, emotion, rehearsal, importance, spatial recall and temporal recall to their memories. Lower autobiographical specificity was also observed in patients with bvFTD compared to control participants. Autobiographical specificity in patients with bvFTD was associated with verbal fluency and verbal episodic memory, but not with phenomenological experience. Although autobiographical memories of patients with bvFTD show low ratings of phenomenological experience, the patients may still enjoy some limited subjective experience during autobiographical retrieval.

Developmental refinements to neural attentional state during semantic memory retrieval through adolescence.

Despite the fact that attention undergoes protracted development, little is known about how it may support memory refinements in childhood and adolescence. Here, we asked whether people differentially focus their attention on semantic or perceptual information over development during memory retrieval. First, we trained a multivoxel classifier to characterize whole-brain neural patterns reflecting semantic versus perceptual attention in a cued attention task. We then used this classifier to quantify how attention varied in a separate dataset in which children, adolescents, and adults retrieved autobiographical, semantic, and episodic memories. All age groups demonstrated a semantic attentional bias during memory retrieval, with significant age differences in this bias during the semantic task. Trials began with a preparatory picture cue followed by a retrieval question, which allowed us to ask whether attentional biases varied by trial period. Adults showed a semantic bias earlier during the picture cues, whereas adolescents showed this bias during the question. Adults and adolescents also engaged different brain regions-superior parietal cortex and ventral visual regions, respectively-during preparatory picture cues. Our results demonstrate that retrieval-related attention undergoes refinement beyond childhood. These findings suggest that alongside expanding semantic knowledge, attention-related changes may support the maturation of factual knowledge retrieval.

The autobiographical memory system and chronic pain: A neurocognitive framework for the initiation and maintenance of chronic pain.

Chronic pain affects approximately 20% of the world's population, exerting a substantial burden on the affected individual, their families, and healthcare systems globally. Deficits in autobiographical memory have been identified among individuals living with chronic pain, and even found to pose a risk for the transition to chronicity. Recent neuroimaging studies have simultaneously implicated common brain regions central to autobiographical memory processing in the maintenance of and susceptibility to chronic pain. The present review proposes a novel neurocognitive framework for chronic pain explained by mechanisms underlying the autobiographical memory system. Here, we 1) summarize the current literature on autobiographical memory in pain, 2) discuss the role of the hippocampus and cortical brain regions including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior temporal lobe, and amygdala in relation to autobiographical memory, memory schemas, emotional processing, and pain, 3) synthesize these findings in a neurocognitive framework that explains these relationships and their implications for patients' pain outcomes, and 4) propose translational directions for the prevention, management, and treatment of chronic pain.

Uncertainty salience reduces the accessibility of episodic future thoughts.

We live in uncertain times and how this pervasive sense of uncertainty affects our ability to think about the future remains largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate the effects of uncertainty salience on episodic future thinking-the ability to mentally represent specific future events. Experiment 1 assessed the impact of uncertainty on the accessibility of episodic future thoughts using an event fluency task. Participants were randomly assigned to either an uncertainty induction or control condition, and then were asked to imagine as many future events as possible that could happen in different time periods. The results showed that participants in the uncertainty condition produced fewer events, suggesting that uncertainty salience reduced the accessibility of episodic future thoughts. Experiment 2 investigated in further detail the mechanisms of production of episodic future thoughts that are affected by uncertainty. The results showed that uncertainty primarily reduced the accessibility of previously formed future thoughts (i.e., memories of the future) rather than affecting the ability to generatively think about the future and construct events. These findings shed new light on the impact of uncertainty on episodic future thinking, paving the way to further investigation into its implications for decision-making and future-oriented behavior.

The Functional Neuroimaging of Autobiographical Memory for Happy Events: A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis.

Neuroimaging studies using autobiographical recall methods investigated the neural correlates of happy autobiographical memories (AMs). The scope of the present activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was to quantitatively analyze neuroimaging studies of happy AMs conducted with autobiographical recall paradigms. A total of 17 studies (12 fMRI; 5 PET) on healthy individuals were included in this meta-analysis. During recall of happy life events, consistent activation foci were found in the frontal gyrus, the cingulate cortex, the basal ganglia, the parahippocampus/hippocampus, the hypothalamus, and the thalamus. The result of this quantitative coordinate-based ALE meta-analysis provides an objective view of brain responses associated with AM recollection of happy events, thus identifying brain areas consistently activated across studies. This extended brain network included frontal and limbic regions involved in remembering emotionally relevant positive events. The frontal gyrus and the cingulate cortex may be responsible for cognitive appraisal processes during recollection of happy AMs, while the subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus may be involved in pleasure reactions associated with recollection of happy life events. These findings shed light on the neural network involved in recalling positive AMs in healthy individuals, opening further avenues for future research in clinical populations with mood disorders.

Memory control immediately improves unpleasant emotions associated with autobiographical memories of past immoral actions.

The ability to stop unwanted memories from coming to mind is theorised to be essential for maintaining good mental health. People can employ intentional strategies to prevent conscious intrusions of negative memories, and repeated attempts to stop retrieval both reduces the frequency of intrusions and improves subsequent emotions elicited by those memories. However, it is still unknown whether memory control can improve negative emotions immediately, at the time control is attempted. It is also not clear which strategy is most beneficial for emotion regulation; clearing the mind of any thoughts of negative memories via direct suppression, or substituting memory recall with alternative thoughts. Here, we provide novel evidence that memory control immediately regulates negative emotions associated with autobiographical memories of morally wrong actions. Repeated control significantly improved negative emotions over time, regardless of the strategy used to implement control. Thought substitution involving either positive diversionary thinking or counterfactual thinking both induced positive feelings, whereas direct suppression neutralised emotions, regardless of whether memories were positive or negative. These empirical findings have implications for clinical practice as they indicate that memory control strategies could be effective emotion regulation methods for real-world intrusive memories.

Unlocking the past: efficacy of guided self-compassion and benefit-focused online interventions for managing negative personal memories.

Positive reappraisal strategies have been found to reduce negative affect following the recall of negative personal events. This study examined the restorative effect of two mood-repair instructions (self-compassion vs benefit-focused reappraisal) and a control condition with no instructions following a negative Mood Induction Procedure by using the guided recall of a negative autobiographical event. A total of 112 university students participated in the online study (81% women, Mage: 21.0 years). Immediately following the negative memory recall, participants were randomised to each condition [(self-compassion: n = 36, benefit-focused: n = 39) or a control condition (n = 37)]. Repeated measures ANOVAs 3 (Repair condition) × 3 (Time of mood assessment: pre-recall, post-recall, post-regulation) showed that, as expected, negative mood (sadness, shame, and guilt) worsened significantly after the guided recall in all groups (p < .001). After the mood-repair intervention, participants in the self-compassion and benefit-focused conditions showed a significant reduction in negative mood (p < .019), while such improvement was not observed in the control group. Self-compassion and benefit-focused reappraisal functioned similarly as mood repair strategies after experiencing negative affect induced by the recall of negative personal memories. Implications in the context of autobiographical memory biases are discussed.

The days we never forget: Flashbulb memories across the life span in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by autobiographical memory deficits, with the ability to retrieve episodic-rich memories being particularly affected. Here, we investigated the influence of AD on a specific subtype of episodic memories known as flashbulb memories (i.e., the ability to remember the personal circumstances for the reception of important news events). We examined the frequency, characteristics, and the temporal distribution of flashbulb memories across the life span. To this aim, 28 older adults diagnosed with AD and a matched sample of 29 healthy older controls were probed for flashbulb memories for two historical events from each decade of their lives. They also estimated the subjective degree of reexperiencing for the memories reported. AD participants showed impaired access to flashbulb memories, the frequency of reported memories being lower than for healthy older adults. However, qualitative aspects of AD participants' flashbulb memories were quite similar to those of the controls, as no group differences were obtained with respect to the canonical categories or degree of reexperience. AD participants' flashbulb memories clustered during the early years of their life, consistent with a reminiscence bump, whereas healthy controls also reported memories dated to later lifetime periods. Our results suggest that probing for personal memories of important public events may serve as a powerful cue for detailed episodic memories in AD.