Emotionally charged autobiographical memories across the life span: the recall of happy, sad, traumatic, and involuntary memories

The reminiscence bump and the self: evidence from five studies on positive and negative memories

A plethora of studies have shown that people persistently remember public and personal events experienced during adolescence and early adulthood, particularly with a positive valence. In five studies, we investigate the reminiscence bump (RB) for positive and negative memories of public events (Studies 1 and 2), private events (Study 3), music-related events (Study 4), and cross-cultural memory differences (i.e., China and US) (Study 5). Participants retrieved either one positive or one negative memory, indicated their Age of Encoding, and provided secondary measures, i.e., memory vividness and rehearsal (Studies 1 and 3) and emotional intensity (Studies 2 and 4). About 10,000 memories were collected and positive memories appeared generally older than negative recollections, but the RB emerged for both positive and negative memories. Furthermore, the peak was earlier for positive memories of public events (<15 years old) than for negative memories (20-40 years), while no differences were found for private events or music-related experiences (15-25 years). Chinese had their RB later than US respondents. Finally, autobiographical recollections have moderate to low associations with secondary measures of phenomenological features of memory. These findings are consistent with the identity-formation theory, providing additional and important information on the development of the Self.

A comprehensive guide to research protocols for collecting and coding involuntary past and future thoughts

The paper presents a comprehensive guide for researchers investigating mind-wandering and related phenomena such as involuntary past and future thinking. Examining such spontaneous cognitions presents a challenge requiring not only the use of appropriate laboratory-based procedures, but also the coding of complex qualitative data. This guide outlines two main stages of existing research protocols: data acquisition and data coding. For the former, we introduce an easily modifiable computerized version of the vigilance task, designed for broad application in studies focusing on eliciting and measuring involuntary thoughts in controlled laboratory conditions. Regarding data preparation and coding, we provide a detailed step-by-step procedure for categorizing and coding different types of thoughts, involving both participants and competent judges. Additionally, we address some of the difficulties that may arise during this categorization and coding process. The guide is supplemented by a clip demonstrating the main part of the experimental procedure and a step-by-step example of the subsequent data processing stages. We anticipate that this research guide will not only assist a broader group of researchers interested in investigating spontaneous cognition, but will also inspire future studies on spontaneous cognition and related phenomena.•There is a need for standardized approaches to working with qualitative data when investigating spontaneous thoughts.•The paper outlines a comprehensive protocol for collecting and coding involuntary past and future-oriented thoughts.•The paper also presents a detailed step-by-step procedure for data preparation and coding to categorize different types of thoughts, involving both participants and competent judges.

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.

The Neural Basis of a Cognitive Function That Suppresses the Generation of Mental Imagery: Evidence from a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

This study elucidated the brain regions associated with the perception-driven suppression of mental imagery generation by comparing brain activation in a picture observation condition with that in a positive imagery generation condition. The assumption was that mental imagery generation would be suppressed in the former condition but not in the latter. The results show significant activation of the left posterior cingulate gyrus (PCgG) in the former condition compared to in the latter condition. This finding is generally consistent with a previous study showing that the left PCgG suppresses mental imagery generation. Furthermore, correlational analyses showed a significant correlation between the activation of the left PCgG and participants' subjective richness ratings, which are a measure of the clarity of a presented picture. Increased activity in the PCgG makes it more difficult to generate mental imagery. As visual perceptual processing and visual imagery generation are in competition, the suppression of mental imagery generation leads to enhanced visual perceptual processing. In other words, the greater the suppression of mental imagery, the clearer the presented pictures are perceived. The significant correlation found is consistent with this idea. The current results and previous studies suggest that the left PCgG plays a role in suppressing the generation of mental imagery.

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.

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

Objective

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.

Method

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.

Results

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.

Conclusion

Of the variables that may be associated with the elicitation of involuntary autobiographical memories, the most significant are age and a positive stimulus.

Effect of popular songs from the reminiscence bump as autobiographical memory cues in aging: a preliminary study using EEG

Introduction

Music has the capacity to evoke emotions and memories. This capacity is influenced by whether or not the music is from the reminiscence bump (RB) period. However, research on the neural correlates of the processes of evoking autobiographical memories through songs is scant. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences at the level of frequency band activation in two situations: (1) whether or not the song is able to generate a memory; and (2) whether or not the song is from the RB period.

Methods

A total of 35 older adults (22 women, age range: 61-73 years) listened to 10 thirty-second musical clips that coincided with the period of their RB and 10 from the immediately subsequent 5 years (non-RB). To record the EEG signal, a brain-computer interface (BCI) with 14 channels was used. The signal was recorded during the 30-seconds of listening to each music clip.

Results

The results showed differences in the activation levels of the frequency bands in the frontal and temporal regions. It was also found that the non-retrieval of a memory in response to a song clip showed a greater activation of low frequency waves in the frontal region, compared to the trials that did generate a memory.

Discussion

These results suggest the importance of analyzing not only brain activation, but also neuronal functional connectivity at older ages, in order to better understand cognitive and emotional functions in aging.

Early childhood memories of individuals convicted of sexual offences

This study used innovative transdisciplinary methods to describe the nature and extent of early childhood memories recalled by 84 adults convicted of sexual offences. The timing of the memories, level of detail recalled and way memories were recollected were largely consistent with extant memory research. One important finding, however, was that more than 30% of our participants recalled particularly traumatic and distressing childhood experiences - a much higher proportion than previously observed in nonoffending samples. The extent to which these memories laid the foundation for subsequent emotional content and feature in the evolution of cognitive schemata is not yet well understood. With that in mind, we consider the implications of our findings for the event centrality in self-narratives. We recommend the inclusion of treatment modalities that maximise as yet unrecognised and undervalued narrative inclinations and story-telling abilities of a complicated population of individuals with rich lived experience that stands to benefit greatly from such approaches.

Specific autobiographical memories are a resource for identity strength among mature but not emerging adults

Four studies, three pre-planned on Open Science Framework, with 2296 participants explored the potential role of recollecting autobiographical memories in enhancing the sense of identity. Among emerging adults (college students under age 25), recollecting important autobiographical memories did not strengthen sense of identity. Autobiographical memories failed to strengthen identity among emerging adults despite inducing low self-clarity first; despite attempts to prime self-consistent memories by having emerging adults report their stable self-aspects first; and despite attempts to inspire self-event connections by asking emerging adults to explain how the memories exemplified something enduring about the self. Among mature adults (age 25 and older), recollecting important autobiographical memories strengthened sense of identity. Identity was strengthened regardless of whether mature adults were asked to explain how the memories exemplified something enduring about the self. Differences in types of memories or motivation did not account for the differential effects of recollecting autobiographical memories in identity. In short, mature adults appear to readily use autobiographical memories as a resource for identity in a way that emerging adults have not yet mastered.

Increase in physiological inhibitory control results in better suppression of unwanted memories

Forgetting or suppressing a memory with unwanted content is just as important as remembering a desirable one. In addition to emphasizing the role of inhibitory control in memory suppression processes, neuropsychological studies have indicated that an intentional inhibition targeting a brain area may exert its inhibitory effects in seemingly unrelated areas through a common inhibitory network. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the suppression of unwanted memories can be strengthened by recruiting an inhibitory task that can be simultaneously performed with a memory suppression task. Therefore, we manipulated the level of urinary urgency-induced inhibition of participants (N = 180) and test its effect on the suppression of unwanted memories using a Think/No-Think (T/NT) task. The results of our study indicated that individuals with high levels of urinary urgency demonstrated greater memory suppression compared to those with low urinary urgency. Findings and their implications are discussed within the context of cognitive and clinical perspectives, and recommendations are made for future research.

Bringing Order to Life: Temporal Order Effects during the Recall of Important Autobiographical Memories in Young and Old Adults

OBJECTIVE

The present study investigated whether younger and older adults differ in the extent to which they order their important autobiographical memories (AMs) in a chronological way during recall. Moreover, the number of autobiographical memories to be recalled was systematically varied in order to examine whether manipulating the size of the search sample affects the use of a chronological recall strategy.

METHODS

Data come from 118 younger adults (M = 23.12, SD = 3.33) and 124 older adults (M = 69.79, SD = 8.94) who recalled either seven or thirteen important AMs.

RESULTS

Using multilevel linear growth models, a temporal order effect for younger and older adults was found. For older adults, the temporal order effect was much more pronounced. The number of recalled events, however, did not affect the temporal order effect.

CONCLUSION

Our findings point to a higher need for a structured search or a stronger engagement in autobiographical reasoning processes in older age. Furthermore, asking for important AMs encourages participants to provide a comprehensive overview of their life independent of the number of important AMs to be recalled.

Collective events and individual affect shape autobiographical memory

How do collective events shape how we remember our lives? We leveraged advances in natural language processing as well as a rich, longitudinal assessment of 1,000 Americans throughout 2020 to examine how memory is influenced by two prominent factors: surprise and emotion. Autobiographical memory for 2020 displayed a unique signature: There was a substantial bump in March, aligning with pandemic onset and lockdowns, consistent across three memory collections 1 y apart. We further investigated how emotion, using both immediate and retrieved measures, predicted the amount and content of autobiographical memory: Negative affect increased recall across all measures, whereas its more clinical indices, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, selectively increased nonepisodic recall. Finally, in a separate cohort, we found pandemic news to be better remembered, surprising, and negative, while lockdowns compressed remembered time. Our work connects laboratory findings to the real world and delineates the effects of acute versus clinical signatures of negative emotion on memory.

Psychological consequences of experiencing the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic: early maladaptive schemas and mental health and quality of life

The research presented here aimed to determine the psychological consequences of experiencing Poland's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We focused on changes in mental health (anxiety and depression symptoms, morbid thoughts, and suicidal ideation) and quality of life. Our retrospective study included 499 adults comprising 316 women and 173 men (aged 18-72, Me = 27, SD = 12.48). We employed the following research tools: the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), the shortened version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), and the abridged version of the Harkavy Asnis Suicide Survey (HASS-BREF) scale to assess the severity of suicidal ideations and behaviors, as well as the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3-PL). The questionnaires' instructions for the subjects were modified to obtain information for three specific periods: before the pandemic, at the most difficult time of the pandemic for individuals, and in the last two weeks (the time period preceding data collection; January/February 2021). It emerged that both mental health and quality of life had deteriorated significantly in the studied population. In addition, early maladaptive schemas (Abandonment, Vulnerability to Harm, and Insufficient Self-Control) were likely predictors of mental health deterioration at the most difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The schema of Defectiveness was likely predictor of a lower severity of symptoms of mental health disturbances. If psychological diagnosis covered the identification of thinking patterns typical of maladaptive schemas, which may be a risk factor for mental health deterioration, psychologists could better adapt forms and ways of psychological assistance to the patient's needs.

Lifespan effects of current age and of age at the time of remembered events on the affective tone of life narrative memories: Early adolescence and older age are more negative

The affective tone of autobiographical memories may be influenced by age in two ways-by the current age of the remembering individual and by the age of the remembered self at the time of the remembered event. While aging has been associated with more positive autobiographical memories, young adulthood is remembered more positively than other parts of life. We tested whether these effects also show in life story memories and how they act jointly on affective tone; also, we wanted to explore their effects on remembered lifetimes other than early adulthood. We tested effects of current age and age at event on affective tone with brief entire life narratives provided up to five times across 16 years by 172 Germans of both genders, ages 8 to 81 years. Multilevel analyses found an unexpected negativity effect of aging for current age and confirmed a "golden 20s" effect of remembered age. In addition, women told more negative life stories, and affective tone dipped in early adolescence for current age and was remembered as such up to mid-adulthood. Thus, the affective tone of life story memories is jointly influenced by current and remembered age. The absence of a positivity effect in aging is explained by the specific requirements of telling an entire life. We suggest the turmoil of puberty as a reason for the early adolescence dip. Gender differences are potentially explained by differences in narrative style, in depression rates, and in real-life challenges.

Prevalence and predictors of benevolent childhood experiences among a representative sample of young people

Emerging research evidence suggests that benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) may partly explain more favourable mental health outcomes among individuals affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). However, much of this research has focused on adult populations. Consequently, this study sought to provide the first rigorous assessment of the prevalence and predictors of BCEs using a nationally representative sample of young people from Northern Ireland (NI). Participants were 11-19-years-olds (N = 1293) who participated in the NI Youth Wellbeing Prevalence Survey (NI-YWS, 2020). Prevalence rates, gender differences and predictors of BCEs were investigated. Results revealed how most of the sample experienced multiple BCEs (95%, n = 1084), with females reporting higher levels of BCEs. Significant positive predictors of BCEs were female gender, parental education, living with both biological parents, and living in areas with lower deprivation, while significant negative predictors of BCEs included family being in receipt of social welfare and older age. Overall, this study highlights how BCEs are common, while the identification of factors associated with likelihood of having positive experiences during early development provides novel insights into those young people who may be at greater risk for maladaptive psychological outcomes.

EXPRESS: "Be careful what you recall": Retrieval induced forgetting of genuine real-life autobiographical memories

Which episodes from our lives will be remembered and which will be forgotten, and why? This question has still not been answered satisfactorily by research into autobiographical memory. Previous work has shown that retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) might be a factor responsible for forgetting parts of the autobiographical memory content. However, none of the previous studies assessed RIF in memories for recent, controlled, personal events. We report here the results of an experiment in which autobiographical memories of real-life events were induced in a controlled, but fully naturalistic, manner, under the disguise of team-building exercises, while an adapted RIF paradigm was applied to these memories. Results clearly showed the influence of RIF on auto-biographical memory retrieval. These findings demonstrate conclusively that RIF occurs in everyday life when remembering personal events.

Brazilian Life Scripts: Reminiscence Bump Location and Characteristics of Life Events

Abstract The life script construct refers to the semantic knowledge shared by individuals from a given culture and reflects the expectations about when specific events are supposed to happen. This study aimed to identify whether a life script for Brazilian culture and its characteristics exists. Three hundred and eighty-four participants reported the seven most important events in the life of a hypothetical newborn of their same gender and culture. For each event, they informed an estimate of age and levels of importance, prevalence, and valence. Our results showed that most of the events cited were considered positive and expected to happen before age 30. The ages from 15 to 30 had the most positive events (51.9%). Events before age 15 were rated as more prevalent and important. The results are discussed as representations of lifetime development benchmarks within the Brazilian population and compared to other countries’ data on life scripts.

The effect of context on mind-wandering in younger and older adults

Older adults report less mind-wandering (MW) during tasks of sustained attention than younger adults. The control failure × current concerns account argues that this is due to age differences in how contexts cue personally relevant task-unrelated thoughts. For older adults, the university laboratory contains few reminders of their current concerns and unfinished goals. For younger adults, however, the university laboratory is more directly tied to their current concerns. Therefore, if the context for triggering current concerns is the critical difference between younger and older adults' reported MW frequencies, then testing the two groups in contexts that equate the salience of self-relevant cues (i.e., their homes) should result in an increase in older but not younger adults' MW rates. The present study directly compared rates of MW and involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) in the home versus in the lab for younger and older adults using a within-subjects manipulation of context. Inconsistent with the control failure × current concerns account, no significant reduction in the age-gap in MW was found. Suggesting a lack of cues rather than an abundance of cues elicits MW, participants in both age groups reported more MW in the lab than at home. The number of IAMs recalled did not differ across contexts but was lower in older than younger adults. These findings suggest that a cognitive rather than an environmental mechanism may be behind the reduction in spontaneous cognition in aging.

Living-in-history effect in the dating of important autobiographical memories

The tendency of a person to frequently use public (i.e., historical) events as temporal landmarks when dating personal memories is termed the living-in-history (LiH) effect. We investigated the LiH effect in autobiographical memories of Bangladeshi older adults who lived through the 1960s Bengali nationalist movement and the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. 476 participants (mean age = 67.16 years; SD = 5.96 years), including 62 independence war veterans, retrieved and dated three important memories from their life and completed two scales: (a) a transitional impact-of-war scale and (b) a generational identity scale. Results showed that nearly one-third of the total memories (32%) were dated using public event references, demonstrating a LiH effect. However, this effect was twice as strong among veterans (58%) than among nonveterans (28%). The memory content analysis revealed that public event references were mostly used to date public memories (e.g., war and political struggle) and the memories with negative valence. Multivariate analyses showed that veteran identity, material changes due to war and participants’ age significantly predicted the use of public event references to date one, two or three memories relative to no use of those references. The public memories that were personally significant and the extent participants experienced the material changes due to war mainly caused the LiH effect. We discuss the results considering current theories of autobiographical memory.

Involuntary memory production during voluntary memory production: perceived usefulness, relevance, and intrusiveness

Research on involuntary autobiographical memories has shown that such memories are also experienced as byproducts of voluntarily produced autobiographical memories [Mace, 2006. Episodic remembering creates access to involuntary conscious memory: Demonstrating involuntary recall on a voluntary recall task. Memory, 14(8), 917-924]. This study examined perceptions of these memories with respect to their evoking voluntary memories. Participants were engaged in an autobiographical memory recall task, and asked to report on the experience of involuntary memories. They were asked to report if involuntary memories and evoking voluntary memories were related, from the same lifetime period, if the involuntary memories had utility and relevance for evoking memories, and if the involuntary memories were experienced as intrusive. The results showed that involuntary memories were related to evoking voluntary memories, frequently from the same lifetime period, and generally not experienced as intrusive. While mostly perceived as relevant to evoking memories, less than one-half of the involuntary memories were perceived as useful. The results raise questions about the functional nature of this type of involuntary remembering.

To mention or not to mention? The inclusion of self-reported most traumatic and most positive memories in the life story

Many theories on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) make assumptions on the relationship between PTSD and centrality of traumas to the life story and identity. Although the Centrality of Event Scale (CES) is a popular measure of centrality of personally experienced events to the life story, no studies have examined whether self-rated "central" events are mentioned, when individuals recount their lives. It is also unknown if mentioning specific event types in the life story is related to psychological health or life story coherence. We asked 386 adults to write their life stories, nominate their most traumatic and positive events, rate these events on the CES, and complete measures of PTSD and depression. Two-thirds of the sample mentioned at least one event, with the positive event being mentioned twice as often as the trauma. Mentioned events were more central than non-mentioned events. Participants who mentioned their trauma scored higher on symptoms of PTSD and depression than participants who only mentioned their positive event, but did not write less coherent life stories. Further, death- and illness-related traumas were mentioned more often than accidents and disasters. Findings are discussed in relation to theories on trauma memory in PTSD.

Emotional Autobiographical Memory Associated with Insular Resection in Epileptic Patients: A Comparison with Temporal Lobe Resection

The insula is involved in a wide variety of functions, including social and emotional processing. Despite the numerous connections it shares with brain structures known to play a role in autobiographical memory (AM), little is known on the contribution of the insula to AM processing. The aim of the study was to examine emotional AM retrieval in patients with insular resection for drug-resistant epilepsy. Ten patients who underwent partial or complete insular resection (IR) were matched on age, sex, and education, to fifteen patients who underwent temporal lobectomy (TL), and to fifteen healthy controls. Participants were asked to recall four positive, four negative, and four neutral memories from their past using the autobiographical interview procedure. The results suggest that AM for emotional and neutral events after IR was comparable to that of healthy controls, whereas deficits were observed after TL. However, an independent examiner judged IR patients' memories as poorer than those of healthy controls on the episodic richness scale, suggesting a lack of some aspects of rich and vivid remembering. Furthermore, analysis on subjective self-rated scales revealed that, contrary to healthy controls, patients with IR judged their neutral memories as more emotional. This study suggests that AM is generally preserved after IR. However, given the small sample size and varied lesion location, one cannot totally exclude a potential role of specific insular sub-regions on some aspects of autobiographical memory. In addition, IR patients showed poor emotional judgment for neutral memories, which is congruent with previous findings of altered emotional processing in this population.

A deeper dive into the reminiscence bump: further evidence for the life script hypothesis

When older adults are asked to recall personal events that occurred at any point in their lives, memories from late adolescence and early adulthood are overrepresented, forming a reminiscence bump. Thematic analyses have indicated that the bump memories that emerge in response to such prompts frequently represent milestone events that are consistent with cultural life scripts. This study employed a novel method that explicitly targeted only memories of events occurring during late adolescence and early adulthood, allowing in-depth exploration of the contents and potential organising principles associated with these memories. Older adults (N = 197) completed an on-line survey in which they described 7 memories of personal events that had occurred at any time between the ages of 19 and 34. Content analyses indicated that memories frequently portrayed landmark events, consistent with cultural life script theory. After completing the memory task, participants who had been married or had their first child between ages 19 and 34 provided their age at the time of these events. Temporal distributions of memory ages centred on participants' ages at the time of their first marriage or childbirth also were consistent with the life script explanation for the reminiscence bump.

Probing the self-defining period in memories of the Bangladesh independence war generation

This study investigated the self-defining periods (SPs) in private and public memories of Bangladeshi older adults (N = 476; mean age = 67.16 years) who, during adolescence and early adulthood, witnessed the 1960s Bengali nationalist movement and the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. Each participant retrieved three private and three public memories they considered to be highly significant. The lifespan distributions for private and public memories were identical; in both cases, participants recalled more than half of their memories from 10 to 29 years of age. The calendar-year distributions revealed that nearly one-fourth of private and one-third of public memories were recalled from the year of the War of Independence. The memory content analysis showed that participants sampled more negative than positive memories: 55% versus 45% for private memory and 66% versus 34% for public memory. The enhanced recollection of private and public memories from 10 to 29 years of age was predominantly shaped by memories of the independence struggle-a period that was self-defining for the entire Bangladeshi society.

Prospective Memory and Positivity Bias in the COVID-19 Health Crisis: The Effects of Aging

This study aimed to determine whether the observed tendency to remember more positive than negative past events (positivity phenomena) also appears when recalling hypothetical events about the future. In this study, young, middle-aged, and older adults were presented with 28 statements about the future associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, half positive and half negative. In addition, half of these statements were endowed with personal implications while the other half had a more social connotations. Participants rated their agreement/disagreement with each statement and, after a distraction task, they recalled as many statements as possible. There was no difference in the agreement ratings between the three age groups, but the participants agreed with positive statements more than with negative ones and they identified more with statements of social content than of personal content. The younger and older individuals recalled more statements than the middle-aged people. More importantly, older participants recalled more positive than negative statements (positivity effect), and showed a greater tendency to turn negative statements into more positive or neutral ones (positivity bias). These findings showed that the positivity effect occurs in even such complex and situations as the present pandemic, especially in older adults. The results are discussed by reference to the notion of commission errors and false memories resulting from the activation of cognitive biases.

A tale of two cultural life scripts: do young second-generation Turkish immigrants versus young Danes in Denmark perceive life through different cultural lenses?

Cultural life scripts refer to the shared expectations as to the order and timing of life events in a prototypical life course within a given culture or subculture. Immigration is a significant transition that often implies a change in cultural context, which may change people's views about a normative life. However, research on cultural life scripts in the context of immigration has been limited. We addressed this gap by examining the cultural life scripts of 33 young second-generation Turkish immigrants and 33 young Danes in Denmark, pairwise-matched on age, gender, and education, along with their subjective well-being and acculturation level. Both groups reported mostly positive life script events expected to occur in early adulthood and their individual life scripts generally had a positive outlook. In contrast to earlier studies, we found no evidence of lower subjective well-being or greater normativity of the cultural life script in the immigrant group. Moreover, the acculturation level of the Turkish group correlated positively with their subjective well-being, suggesting that adapting at least to some degree to the daily life of the host country is associated with well-being of second-generation immigrants.

Deficient semantic knowledge of the life course-Examining the cultural life script in Alzheimer's disease

Cultural life scripts are culturally transmitted semantic knowledge of the expected order and timing of major transitional events in a prototypical life course. This cognitive schema has been shown to serve as an important mnemonic template that guides retrieval from autobiographical memory, especially for positive and important life events. Autobiographical memory deficits are one of the earliest and most prominent symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, no studies have examined cultural life scripts in patients with AD, despite semantic memory impairments being reported even in the early stages of the disease. The aim of the present work was to assess life-script knowledge in older adults diagnosed with AD, particularly in terms of knowledge for the content of life-script events and the timing and temporal order of these events. Twenty-one older adults diagnosed with AD and 22 healthy age-matched controls completed the standard life-script task (Berntsen & Rubin, 2004, Memory & Cognition, 32[3], 427-442). We found that while AD patients produced significantly fewer life-script events, the content of the generated events were quite consistent with those of the controls and the cultural norms. AD patients were particular impaired with regard to the normative timing and order of life-script events, suggesting that these components of the cultural life script are more vulnerable to cognitive decline. The findings are discussed in relation to impaired script knowledge and semantic memory deficits in AD.

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

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.

Introducing the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report - Short Form and its Qualitative and Quantitative Validation for the Slovenian General Population

Introduction

Traumatic experience in childhood or adolescence has a significant impact on the development of chronic mental and physical conditions in adulthood. Thus, it is very important for health professionals, especially primary care physicians to have an inventory in order to detect early trauma for planning appropriate treatment, such as the Early Trauma Inventory (ETI). The aim of this paper is to test the psychometric properties of the Slovenian translation of the short, self-rated version (ETISR-SF), and to further validate the instrument.

Methods

The research was done in two parts – qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative part, a questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted using the Delphi method. For the quantitative part, 51 patients with substance use disorders hospitalized at the Centre for the Treatment of Drug Addictions were recruited, along with 133 controls. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were checked. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha, test-retest reliability was examined graphically using a Bland-Altman plot. Discriminant validity between groups was gauged using the independent samples t-test.

Results

Consensus in the Delphi study was reached in the second round. Cronbach’s alpha varied between 0.60 - 0.85. Of the four domains, physical abuse had the lowest Cronbach’s alpha. The test-retest reliability is high for all domains, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.82 to 0.96. The non-clinical sample differed significantly from the clinical sample.

Conclusion

The Slovenian translation of ETISR-SF is a satisfactory instrument for the evaluation of trauma before the age of 18.

The link between detail generation and eye movements when encoding and retrieving complex images

Examining eye movement patterns when encoding and retrieving visually complex memories is useful to understand the link between visuo-perceptual processes and how associated details are represented within these memories. Here, we used images of real-world scenes (e.g., a couple grocery shopping) to examine how encoding and retrieval eye movements are linked to the details used to describe complex images during these two phases of memory. Given that memories are often elaborated upon during retrieval, we also examined whether eye-movements at retrieval related to details that were the same as those described when encoding the image (reinstated details) as well as details about the image event that were not initially described at encoding (newly generated details). Testing young healthy participants, we found that retrieval eye movements, specifically eye fixation rate, predicted reinstated details, but not newly generated details. This suggests that visuo-perceptual processes are preferentially engaged at retrieval to reactivate perceived information. At encoding, we found a relationship between eye movements and detail generation that changed over time. This relationship was positive early on in the encoding phase but changed to a negative relationship later in the phase, indicating that a unique relationship exists between activating visuo-perceptual processes during early encoding versus late encoding. Overall, our results provide new insights into how visuo-perceptual processes contribute to different components of complex memory.

Czech and Slovak life scripts: the rare case of two countries that used to be one

In this study, we examined cultural life scripts in two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The cultural life script is semantic knowledge about culturally shared expectations regarding the order and timing of important life events during an idealised life course. For many decades, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were one country: Czechoslovakia. After a regime change in 1989 and the separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, their two cultures have been evolving and changing independently from one another, making these countries interesting for examining life scripts. We found that the cultural life scripts provided by Slovak and Czech participants shared 25 event categories, representing 89.3% of event categories in the Czech sample and 80.6% of event categories in the Slovak sample (including the category Other). However, participants also reported unique event categories to each culture (10.7% of unique event categories in the Czech sample and 19.4% in the Slovak sample), reflecting the specific cultural characteristics of these two separate countries. Reported events were listed in the same order they are expected to happen during the life span, were mostly positive, and showed a lifespan distribution consistent with the reminiscence bump. Participants showed higher agreement in the age estimates of positive events, compared to neutral and negative ones. Events were mostly social, in contrast to biological events. All these findings are consistent with the life script literature.

Emotion matters: The influence of valence on episodic future thinking in young and older adults

In young adults, valence not only alters the degree to which future events are imagined in rich episodic detail, but also how memorable these events are later on. For older adults, how valence influences episodic detail generation while imagining future events, or recalling these details at another time, remains unclear. We investigated the effect of valence on the specificity and memorability of episodic future thinking (EFT) in young and older adults. Among young and older adults, negative EFT was accompanied by less episodic detail generation relative to positive and neutral EFT. A similar reduction in episodic specificity for negative EFT was found two days later when participants recalled their previously imagined events. Notably, while older adults generated less episodically specific future thoughts relative to young adults, age did not influence the effect of valence on episodic detail generation at imagination or recollection.

Autobiographical emotional induction in older people through popular songs: Effect of reminiscence bump and enculturation

Aims

This study is based on two experiments, the first, with an exploratory character. The aim of which is to assess the capacity of native vs international pop songs (NAT vs INT) from two consecutive life stages, Reminiscence bump (RB) and the immediately subsequent period (No reminiscence bump, NORB) to elicit positive emotions and autobiographical memories.

Method

A total of 15 middle-aged adults and 15 older adults participated in Experiment 1 (E1). Emotionality, song familiarity and associated autobiographical memories were assessed. Each participant was exposed to 20 randomly selected age-specific songs. Pre-and post-test measures of mood state were also included. Experiment 2 (E2) focused on late adulthood, using a sample of 35 persons. The experimental design was similar to that used in E1. However, this second experiment also included an analysis of the types of autobiographical memories generated by the experimental task and a study of their relationship with the characteristics of the songs, their familiarity and the emotions they produced, and the number of trials. The aim was to delve into the effects that influence the effectiveness of the induction procedure, particularly as regards emotional positivity and memory specificity.

Results

Regarding age effect, E1 results varied: under some conditions, emotionality showed no difference between groups, others showed positive older adult bias. In E2, the analysis of the relationships between memory types and the selected variables suggests the latter are not useful predictors of differences between memory types. The study design yielded a relatively high level of memory specificity and emotional positivity.

Conclusion

The findings question positivity bias in the elderly. RB music produces different effects depending on age. Enculturation can be an important mediating factor in emotionality and memory. Finally, experimental design improves specific memory and positivity.

The effects of nostalgia cues in sexual health advertising

An experimental design was conducted to investigate message effectiveness between reminiscence-bump format (RBF)/nostalgia message formats with traditional message formats in the context of health communication ads about sexual health. Reminiscence bumps, defined as a point in one's life where people can recall their life events, are proposed as a means for improving nostalgic advertising message effectiveness measure in the research. The dependent variables were emotional response, response efficacy (i.e. intent to adopt the behavior), attitude toward the message, and attitude toward the ad. Boomer-aged women completed an online survey. The research found evidence in support of the idea that nostalgic cues in health communication ads improved emotional response to the advertisement, which, in turn, improved their interest to act on health message recommendations.

The self-defining period in autobiographical memory: Evidence from a long-running radio show

This study is the first to demonstrate that a self-defining period (SP) for personally relevant music emerges spontaneously in a public naturalistic setting. While previous research has demonstrated that people tend to have better memory and preference for songs from their teenage years, the theoretical relevance of these studies has been limited by their reliance on forced-choice methodology and a confinement to contemporary popular Western music. Here, we examine the record choices of famous guests (n = 80; mean age = 61.6 years) interviewed for Desert Island Discs, a long-running popular radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Half of all choices were shown to have been most important between the ages of 10 and 30 years, and the most popular reason for their relevance was the song's link to memories of a person, period, or place. We suggest that music is a defining feature of the SP, intrinsically connected to the developing self.

Explaining change in content of life narratives over time

Aiming to further the understanding of stability and change of the life story, we investigated memory age and valence of life events as possible factors influencing life narrative stability. Additionally, we examined personal memories that 145 participants ranging in age from 16 to 69 years had told four years earlier but omitted from their current life narratives. In particular, we tested the accessibility of these omitted memories and explored the reasons for omission from life narratives. Younger age of memories but not valence predicted omission. Further, omitted memories could be remembered when aided with memory prompts. Both remembering and including life events in the current life narrative appeared to be related to personal relevance at the time of telling, supporting prior research that emphasises the role of motivation, ongoing goals, and concerns for the construction of personal narratives.

The neuroscience of sadness: A multidisciplinary synthesis and collaborative review

Sadness is typically characterized by raised inner eyebrows, lowered corners of the mouth, reduced walking speed, and slumped posture. Ancient subcortical circuitry provides a neuroanatomical foundation, extending from dorsal periaqueductal grey to subgenual anterior cingulate, the latter of which is now a treatment target in disorders of sadness. Electrophysiological studies further emphasize a role for reduced left relative to right frontal asymmetry in sadness, underpinning interest in the transcranial stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as an antidepressant target. Neuroimaging studies - including meta-analyses - indicate that sadness is associated with reduced cortical activation, which may contribute to reduced parasympathetic inhibitory control over medullary cardioacceleratory circuits. Reduced cardiac control may - in part - contribute to epidemiological reports of reduced life expectancy in affective disorders, effects equivalent to heavy smoking. We suggest that the field may be moving toward a theoretical consensus, in which different models relating to basic emotion theory and psychological constructionism may be considered as complementary, working at different levels of the phylogenetic hierarchy.

Relations Between Cultural Life Scripts, Individual Life Stories, and Psychological Distress

Cultural life scripts are shared knowledge about personal events expected to be experienced by individuals within a society and used as a framework for life story narration. Differences in cultural life scripts for individuals with depression and trauma, and their relations to anxiety, stress, and well-being, have not been investigated. Malaysian participants (N = 120) described and rated seven significant events most likely to be experienced by a prototypical infant from their culture, and seven significant events they had experienced or expected to experience in their own life. Participants then answered questionnaires about depression and trauma symptoms and about anxiety, stress, and well-being. The subclinical depression group listed less typical cultural life scripts events, whereas the subclinical post-traumatic stress disorder group listed less positive individual life story events. The findings indicate that, although individuals with depression and trauma possess knowledge of the cultural life scripts, there may be small differences in the cognitive processing of cultural life scripts and individual life story events.

Representing the collective past: public event memories and future simulations in Turkey

Common processes involved in remembering and predicting personal and public events have led researchers to study public events as a part of autobiographical memory. In the present study, we asked for past events and future predictions and examined the temporal distribution and factors that made these salient in event representations. A sample of 1577 individuals reported six most important public events since their birth and six future events that they expected. Past events mostly came from the recent past and were negative in valence. Similarly, future predictions consisted of negative events that are expected to occur in the near past. We did not find a reminiscence bump but there was a strong recency effect. Despite being inconsistent with some literature, this supports the view that remembering the past is largely influenced by the current goals and experiences. Also, in predicting what is remembered from the past and what is expected in the future, what individuals believed others would report appeared as a robust predictor.

What characterizes the reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory? New answers to an old question

The reminiscence bump represents one of the most robust findings in autobiographical memory research. As such, it has led to a number of different explanatory accounts that aim to elucidate it. Because most of these accounts have received some empirical support, it has been assumed that they may equally contribute to the explanation of the reminiscence bump phenomenon. In the present study, we used a multilevel multinomial mixed-effects model to examine the predictive power of explanatory variables selected from different accounts simultaneously. Analyses were based on 2,813 autobiographical memories that 97 older adults aged between 60 and 88 years reported in response to 31 cue words. Overall, the predictor variables (i.e., first-time experience, importance and emotional valence) meaningfully distinguished memories from the reminiscence bump from memories from life periods before and after. These effects, however, did not always go into the hypothesized directions. In addition, results of a Commonality Analysis indicated that although the explanatory accounts considered in the present study draw on qualities of autobiographical memories (within-person effects), they might be more useful in explaining why individuals differ in the number of autobiographical memories reported from the reminiscence bump period (between-person effects). Taken together, our findings are in line with a more integrative view on the reminiscence bump that, additionally, emphasizes the individual (e.g., the life-story account).