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El Haj M, Antoine P, Nahas N, Chapelet G. Autobiographical Storytelling in Patients with Mild Alzheimer's Disease: Focused, Reflected, and Entertaining; A Comparative Study. Clin Gerontol 2024:1-12. [PMID: 38992935 DOI: 10.1080/07317115.2024.2378773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We assessed whether individuals with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), despite some deficits in autobiographical memory, could effectively convey their personal experiences through storytelling. METHODS We invited 37 individuals with mild AD and 37 control participants to share their personal experiences. We rated these narratives based on five characteristics of storytelling: focus, reflection, entertainment, structure, and specificity. RESULTS Analyses demonstrated that individuals with AD conveyed more general than specific memories, and no significant differences were observed between structured and unstructured memories. Importantly, individuals with AD recounted more memories with focus than without, with reflection than without, and that were entertaining than were not. Compared with those of the control participants, the narratives of the individuals with AD were less focused, structured, and specific. However, no significant differences were observed between the two samples regarding reflection or entertainment. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Individuals with mild AD can have difficulties in retrieving specific memories, but their storytelling of personal experience can be focused, exhibit reflection, and be entertaining. Individuals with mild AD can engage in reflective and entertaining autobiographical storytelling, potentially contributing to their sense of identity and connection with others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Clinical Gerontology Department, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Pascal Antoine
- Univ.Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 SCA Lab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
| | - Nayla Nahas
- Department of Psychology, University of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon
| | - Guillaume Chapelet
- Clinical Gerontology Department, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France
- Université de Nantes, Inserm, TENS, The Enteric Nervous System in Gut and Brain Diseases, IMAD, Nantes, France
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El Haj M, Larøi F. On hallucinations and memory: the relationship between hallucinations and autobiographical overgenerality in Alzheimer's Disease. Acta Neuropsychiatr 2024; 36:162-166. [PMID: 38369926 DOI: 10.1017/neu.2024.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been associated with autobiographical overgenerality (i.e. a tendency of patients to retrieve general rather than specific personal memories). AD has also been associated with hallucinations. We investigated the relationship between autobiographical overgenerality and hallucinations in AD. METHODS We invited 28 patients with mild AD to retrieve autobiographical memories, and we also evaluated the occurrence of hallucinations in these patients. RESULTS Analysis demonstrated significant correlations between hallucinations and autobiographical overgenerality in the patients. CONCLUSION AD patients who are distressed by hallucinations may demonstrate autobiographical overgenerality as a strategy to avoid retrieving distressing information that may be related with hallucinations. However, hallucinations as observed in our study can be attributed to other factors such as the general cognitive decline in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France
| | - Frank Larøi
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Norwegian Center of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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El Haj M, Allain P, Boutoleau-Bretonnière C, Chapelet G, Kapogiannis D, Ndobo A. Does Sex Matter? High Semantic Autobiographical Retrieval in Women and Men With Alzheimer's Disease. Psychol Rep 2024; 127:649-667. [PMID: 36165092 PMCID: PMC10040469 DOI: 10.1177/00332941221130223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
The decline of autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is mainly characterized by overgenerality. While there is a large body of research on autobiographical overgenerality in AD, this research has mainly assessed retrieval with a dichotomy between specific vs. general retrieval. To go beyond this dichotomy, we assessed several degrees of autobiographical specificity in patients with AD, namely, we assessed specific vs. categoric vs. extended vs. semantic retrieval. We also assessed sex differences regarding these degrees of autobiographical specificity. We invited patients with mild AD and control participants to complete sentences (e. g., "When I think back to/of…") with autobiographical memories. Memories were categorized into specific, categoric, extended, or semantic memories. Results demonstrated more semantic than specific, categoric or extended memories in men and women with AD. In control participants, analysis demonstrated more specific than categoric, extended, and semantic memories in men and women. Also, no significant differences were observed between women and men with AD, or between control women and men, regarding specific, categoric, extended, and semantic memoires. This study offers not only a nuanced analysis of autobiographical specificity in patients with mild AD, but also an original analysis regarding this specificity by sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Laboratoire de psychologie des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France; CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Philippe Allain
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, LPPL EA 4638, SFR Confluences, UNIV Angers, Nantes Université, Maison de la recherche Germaine Tillion, Angers, France; Département de Neurologie, CHU Angers, Angers, France
| | - Claire Boutoleau-Bretonnière
- CHU Nantes, Inserm CIC04, Nantes, France; CHU Nantes, Département de Neurologie, Centre Mémoire de Ressources et Recherche, Nantes, France
| | - Guillaume Chapelet
- Université de Nantes, Inserm, TENS, The Enteric Nervous System in Gut and Brain Diseases, Nantes, France; CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France
| | - Dimitrios Kapogiannis
- Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - André Ndobo
- Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Laboratoire de psychologie des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France
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Fritsch A, Voltzenlogel V, Cuervo-Lombard C. Exploring Characteristics of Self-Defining Memories in Older Adults. Int J Aging Hum Dev 2024; 98:159-181. [PMID: 37340672 DOI: 10.1177/00914150231183138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/22/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the Self-Defining Memories (SDMs) in a large sample of 181 older adults (65-90 years; mean age = 73.0 years) and to target the relationships between their different dimensions. The sampling method was nonprobabilistic, based on voluntary participation. Participants were asked to recall three SDMs. They also completed the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and a Self-esteem Scale. Almost half of the SDMs were specific and more than a quarter were integrated. Specificity, tension, redemption, contamination sequences, and affective response varied regarding thematic content. Specificity was positively correlated to tension whereas autobiographical reasoning was positively correlated to redemption and negatively linked to emotional response and depression. This research highlighted that identity is constituted by the main types of events that make up a life: interpersonal relationships, life-threatening events, achievement, and leisure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alain Fritsch
- Psychology Department, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
- Centre d'Études et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
| | - Virginie Voltzenlogel
- Psychology Department, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
- Centre d'Études et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
| | - Christine Cuervo-Lombard
- Psychology Department, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
- Centre d'Études et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
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5
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Lenormand D, Fauvel B, Piolino P. The formation of episodic autobiographical memory is predicted by mental imagery, self-reference, and anticipated details. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1355343. [PMID: 38476385 PMCID: PMC10930760 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1355343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Despite the ecological nature of episodic memory (EM) and the importance of consolidation in its functioning, studies tackling both subjects are still scarce. Therefore, the present study aims at establishing predictions of the future of newly encoded information in EM in an ecological paradigm. Methods Participants recorded two personal events per day with a SenseCam portable camera, for 10 days, and characterized the events with different subjective scales (emotional valence and intensity, self-concept and self-relevance, perspective and anticipated details at a month, mental images…). They then performed a surprise free recall at 5 days and 1 month after encoding. Machine learning algorithms were used to predict the future of events (episodic or forgotten) in memory at 1 month. Results The best algorithm showed an accuracy of 78%, suggesting that such a prediction is reliably possible. Variables that best differentiated between episodic and forgotten memories at 1 month were mental imagery, self-reference, and prospection (anticipated details) at encoding and the first free recall. Discussion These results may establish the basis for the development of episodic autobiographical memory during daily experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diane Lenormand
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | | | - Pascale Piolino
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau & Cognition (LMC2 UR 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
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6
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El Haj M. When you look at your past: Eye movement during autobiographical retrieval. Conscious Cogn 2024; 118:103652. [PMID: 38301389 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2024.103652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Until recently, little was known about whether or how autobiographical memory (i.e., memory of personal information) activates eye movement. This issue is now being addressed by several studies demonstrating not only how autobiographical memory activates eye movement, but also how eye movement influences the characteristics of autobiographical retrieval. This paper summarizes this research and presents a hypothesis according to which fixations and saccades during autobiographical retrieval mirror the construction of the visual image of the retrieved event. This hypothesis suggests that eye movements during autobiographical retrieval mirror the attempts of the visual system to generate and manipulate mental representations of autobiographical retrieval. It offers a theoretical framework for a burgeoning area of research that provides a rigorous behavioral evaluation of the phenomenological experience of memory.
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Lockrow AW, Setton R, Spreng KAP, Sheldon S, Turner GR, Spreng RN. Taking stock of the past: A psychometric evaluation of the Autobiographical Interview. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:1002-1038. [PMID: 36944860 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02080-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Autobiographical memory (AM) involves a rich phenomenological re-experiencing of a spatio-temporal event from the past, which is challenging to objectively quantify. The Autobiographical Interview (AI; Levine et al. Psychology and Aging, 17(4), 677-689, 2002) is a manualized performance-based assessment designed to quantify episodic (internal) and semantic (external) features of recalled and verbally conveyed prior experiences. The AI has been widely adopted, yet has not undergone a comprehensive psychometric validation. We investigated the reliability, validity, association to individual differences measures, and factor structure in healthy younger and older adults (N = 352). Evidence for the AI's reliability was strong: the subjective scoring protocol showed high inter-rater reliability and previously identified age effects were replicated. Internal consistency across timepoints was robust, suggesting stability in recollection. Central to our validation, internal AI scores were positively correlated with standard, performance-based measures of episodic memory, demonstrating convergent validity. The two-factor structure for the AI was not well supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Adjusting internal and external detail scores for the number of words spoken (detail density) improved trait estimation of AM performance. Overall, the AI demonstrated sound psychometric properties for inquiry into the qualities of autobiographical remembering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber W Lockrow
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Roni Setton
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | | | - Signy Sheldon
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Gary R Turner
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - R Nathan Spreng
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
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Mehl K, Reschke-Hernandez AE, Hanson J, Linhardt L, Frame J, Dew M, Kickbusch E, Johnson C, Bai E, Belfi AM. Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories are Associated with Negative Affect in Younger and Older Adults. Exp Aging Res 2024:1-18. [PMID: 38217422 PMCID: PMC11245592 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2024.2302785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Music evokes strong and persistent emotional responses. However, the mechanisms underlying the emotional effects of music, particularly in older adults, are largely unknown. One purported mechanism by which music evokes emotions is through memory - that is, music evokes personal, autobiographical memories that then lead to emotional responses. METHOD Here, we investigated whether memory-evoking music induces stronger and longer-lasting emotional responses than non-memory-evoking music, and whether these emotional responses differ between younger and older adults. Older (N = 30) and younger adults (N =30) listened to two blocks of self-selected music (one block of memory-evoking music and one block of familiar but non-memory-evoking music). Participants reported their emotions prior to and at three timepoints post-listening. RESULTS Older adults reported higher levels of positive affect than younger adults. For both groups, positive affect increased after listening to both memory-evoking and non-memory-evoking music. However, negative affect only increased after listening to memory-evoking music. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that both memory-evoking and non-memory-evoking music generate strong emotions in younger and older adults, but music that conjures personal memories is more likely to elicit mixed emotions. Our results have important clinical implications when designing music-based interventions for mood and affect, particularly in older adult populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kendra Mehl
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | | | - Julien Hanson
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Lauren Linhardt
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Jessica Frame
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Matthew Dew
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Elizabeth Kickbusch
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Chase Johnson
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Elena Bai
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
| | - Amy M. Belfi
- Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology
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El Haj M, Moustafa AA, Antoine P, Chapelet G. Relationship Between Future Thinking and Prospective Memory in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis Rep 2024; 8:33-42. [PMID: 38229829 PMCID: PMC10789294 DOI: 10.3233/adr-230144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Future thinking and prospective memory are two cognitive processes oriented toward the future and reliant on the ability to envision oneself in future scenarios. Objective We explored the connection between future thinking and prospective memory in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods We invited both AD participants and control participants to engage in event-based prospective memory tasks (e.g., "please hand me this stopwatch when I inform you there are 10 minutes remaining") and time-based prospective memory tasks (e.g., "close the book you are working on in five minutes"). Additionally, we asked participants to engage in a future thinking task where they imagined upcoming events. Results Analysis revealed that AD participants exhibited lower performance in both prospective memory tasks and future thinking compared to the control group. Importantly, we identified significant positive correlations between the performance on event- and time-based prospective memory tasks and future thinking abilities among AD participants. Conclusions These findings underscore the connection between the decline in both prospective memory domains and the ability to envision future events in individuals with AD. Our results also shed light on the challenges AD individuals face when trying to project themselves into the future to mentally pre-experience upcoming events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
- CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France
| | - Ahmed A. Moustafa
- School of Psychology & Marcs Institute for Brain and Behaviour, University of Western Sydney, Australia
- Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Pascal Antoine
- Université de Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
| | - Guillaume Chapelet
- CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, Nantes, France
- Université de Nantes, Inserm, TENS, The Enteric Nervous System in Gut and Brain Diseases, IMAD, Nantes, France
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Trakas M. Journeying to the past: time travel and mental time travel, how far apart? Front Psychol 2023; 14:1260458. [PMID: 38213608 PMCID: PMC10783551 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1260458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Spatial models dominated memory research throughout much of the twentieth century, but in recent decades, the concept of memory as a form of mental time travel (MTT) to the past has gained prominence. Initially introduced as a metaphor, the MTT perspective shifted the focus from internal memory processes to the subjective conscious experience of remembering. Despite its significant impact on empirical and theoretical memory research, there has been limited discussion regarding the meaning and adequacy of the MTT metaphor in accounting for memory. While in previous work I have addressed the general limitations of the MTT metaphor in explaining memory, the objective of this article is more focused and modest: to gain a better understanding of what constitutes MTT to the past. To achieve this objective, a detailed analysis of the characteristics of MTT to the past is presented through a comparison with time travel (TT) to the past. Although acknowledging that TT does not refer to an existing physical phenomenon, it is an older concept extensively discussed in the philosophical literature and provides commonly accepted grounds, particularly within orthodox theories of time, that can offer insights into the nature of MTT. Six specific characteristics serve as points of comparison: (1) a destination distinct from the present, (2) the distinction between subjective time and objective time, (3) the subjective experience of the time traveler, (4) their differentiation from the past self, (5) the existence of the past, and (6) its unchangeability. Through this research, a detailed exploration of the phenomenal and metaphysical aspects of MTT to the past is undertaken, shedding light on the distinct features that mental time travel to the past acquires when it occurs within the realm of the mind rather than as a physical phenomenon. By examining these characteristics, a deeper understanding of the nature of mental time travel is achieved, offering insights into how it operates in relation to memory and the past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Trakas
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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11
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Herold CJ, Duval CZ, Schröder J. Autobiographical memory in chronic schizophrenia: A follow-up study. Neuropsychologia 2023; 191:108707. [PMID: 37890662 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Chronic schizophrenia is a very disabling disease and patient's social integration remains difficult. One important aspect is autobiographical memory (AM) as it is impaired in schizophrenia and highly correlated to patient's outcome, since its closely linked to self and identity. Reduced specificity and lack of details are characteristics of patients' AM, but its longitudinal course in schizophrenia remains unclear. We examined 21 patients who underwent our protocol twice with an interval of 7 years. AM was assessed using a semi-structured interview, covering four periods of life and addressing semantic knowledge and autobiographical episodes as well as their details. The results can be divided into three parts, separating semantic memories, specific autobiographical memories and details describing the latter. While a significant deterioration of semantic AM over time could be revealed, the specificity of the free recalled autobiographical episodes remained rather stable - albeit on a low level. In contrast, unique events were remembered with significantly less details at follow-up than at the first examination. While floor-effects given a relatively small number of unique events have to be considered, semantic AM and episodic details seem to be a valuable target for AM remediation given their further deterioration over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina J Herold
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Voßstr. 4, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Céline Z Duval
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Voßstr. 4, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Schröder
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Voßstr. 4, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany
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Serino S, Bieler-Aeschlimann M, Guevara AB, Démonet JF, Serino A. The effect of visual perspective on episodic memory in aging: A virtual reality study. Conscious Cogn 2023; 116:103603. [PMID: 37976783 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
The possibility of flexibly retrieving our memories using a first-person or a third-person perspective (1PP or 3PP) has been extensively investigated in episodic memory research. Here, we used a Virtual Reality-based paradigm to manipulate the visual perspective used during the encoding stage to investigate age-related differences in the formation of memories experienced from 1PP vs. 3PP. 32 young adults and 32 seniors participated in the study. Participants navigated through two virtual cities to encode complex real-life virtual events, from either a 1PP (as if from their egocentric viewpoint) or a 3PP, while actively controlling an avatar. While recognition accuracy was higher in young adults after encoding in 1PP compared to 3PP, there was no benefit in memory formation in 1PP for older adults. These findings are discussed in terms of both age-related changes in episodic memory functioning and self-referencing processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Serino
- Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milano, MI, Italy; MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Melanie Bieler-Aeschlimann
- Leenaards Memory Centre, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Brioschi Guevara
- Leenaards Memory Centre, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Francois Démonet
- Leenaards Memory Centre, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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13
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Erdeniz B, Tekgün E, Lenggenhager B, Lopez C. Visual perspective, distance, and felt presence of others in dreams. Conscious Cogn 2023; 113:103547. [PMID: 37390767 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
The peripersonal space, that is, the limited space surrounding the body, involves multisensory coding and representation of the self in space. Previous studies have shown that peripersonal space representation and the visual perspective on the environment can be dramatically altered when neurotypical individuals self-identify with a distant avatar (i.e., in virtual reality) or during clinical conditions (i.e., out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, depersonalization). Despite its role in many cognitive/social functions, the perception of peripersonal space in dreams, and its relationship with the perception of other characters (interpersonal distance in dreams), remain largely uncharted. The present study aimed to explore the visuospatial properties of this space, which is likely to underlie self-location as well as self/other distinction in dreams. 530 healthy volunteers answered a web-based questionnaire to measure their dominant visuo-spatial perspective in dreams, the frequency of recall for felt distances between their dream self and other dream characters, and the dreamers' viewing angle of other dream characters. Most participants reported dream experiences from a first-person perspective (1PP) (82%) compared to a third-person perspective (3PP) (18%). Independent of their dream perspective, participants reported that they generally perceived other dream characters in their close space, that is, at distance of either between 0 and 90 cm, or 90-180 cm, than in further spaces (180-270 cm). Regardless of the perspective (1PP or 3PP), both groups also reported more frequently seeing other dream characters from eye level (0° angle of viewing) than from above (30° and 60°) or below eye level (-30° and -60°). Moreover, the intensity of sensory experiences in dreams, as measured by the Bodily Self-Consciousness in Dreams Questionnaire, was higher in individuals who habitually see other dream characters closer to their personal dream self (i.e., within 0-90 cm and 90-180 cm). These preliminary findings offer a new, phenomenological account of space representation in dreams with regards to the felt presence of others. They might provide insights not only to our understanding of how dreams are formed, but also to the type of neurocomputations involved in self/other distinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Burak Erdeniz
- İzmir University of Economics, Department of Psychology, İzmir, Turkey
| | - Ege Tekgün
- İzmir University of Economics, Department of Psychology, İzmir, Turkey
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Wardell V, Jameson T, Bontkes OJR, Le ML, Duan TY, St Jacques PL, Madan CR, Palombo DJ. Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories? Psychol Sci 2023; 34:932-946. [PMID: 37439721 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231180588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Memories of our personal past are not exact accounts of what occurred. Instead, memory reconstructs the past in adaptive-though not always faithful-ways. Using a naturalistic design, we asked how the visual perspective adopted in the mind's eye when recalling the past-namely, an "own eyes" versus "observer" perspective-relates to the stability of autobiographical memories. We hypothesized that changes in visual perspective over time would predict poorer consistency of memories. Young adults (N = 178) rated the phenomenology of and freely recalled self-selected memories of everyday events at two time points (10 weeks apart). Multilevel linear modeling revealed, as expected, that greater shifts in visual perspective over time predicted lower memory consistency, particularly for emotional details. Our results offer insight into the factors that predict the fidelity of memories for everyday events. Moreover, our results may elucidate new metrics that are useful in interpreting eyewitness testimony or experiences relayed in clinical contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Taylyn Jameson
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
| | | | - M Lindy Le
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
| | - Tz-Yu Duan
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia
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15
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Cardona M. Memoria, emozioni, ricordi nell’invecchiamento
Implicazioni per l’educazione linguistica degli anziani. LA LINGUISTICA EDUCATIVA TRA RICERCA E SPERIMENTAZIONE
SCRITTI IN ONORE DI CARMEL MARY COONAN 2023. [DOI: 10.30687/978-88-6969-683-1/004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Learning languages is not only beneficial for the quality of life of the elderly and their active participation in society, but it also has an important role in stimulating and maintaining their cognitive resources, increasing cognitive reserves and countering their decline, favouring the development of compensatory processes. From this point of view, learning languages in old age is not only possible but it is desirable. All of this justifies a FL geragogic model based on the idea that education must respect teaching methods principles especially when aimed at the elderly. Since memory consists of different processes which interact with each other affecting several brain areas, there is no unitary ageing of memory in the elderly. Some types of memory are very sensitive to ageing, while others are very well preserved and show no signs of deterioration. Therefore, from the perspective of the language education of the elderly, it is necessary to know the different features of memory ageing in order to prepare teaching activities and educational paths that take into account the specific characteristics and changes that affect memory over the years.
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16
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Sun Z, Li Q, Luo F, Xu L. Mental time travel ability influences the representation of events and emotional expressions: evidence from microblogs. BMC Psychol 2023; 11:57. [PMID: 36869402 PMCID: PMC9983154 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-023-01096-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Mental time travel (MTT) ability allows people to project themselves mentally into the past and future. It is associated with people's mental representation of events and objects. Using text analysis methods, we explore the linguistic representation and emotional expression of people with various MTT abilities. In Study 1, we assessed the users' MTT distances, text lengths, visual perspectives, priming effects of temporal words, and emotional valences by analyzing 2973 users' microblog texts. From our statistical analysis findings, users with far MTT incorporated longer text length and more third-person pronouns in their microblogs and are more likely to relate the future and past with the present than people with near MTT. However, the study showed no significant difference in emotional valence between people with different MTT distances. In Study 2, we explored the relationship between emotional valence and MTT ability by analyzing the comments of 1112 users on "procrastination." We found the users with far MTT more positive toward procrastination than those with near MTT. By analyzing users' social media platform data, this study re-examined and verified previous findings indicating that users who mentally travel different temporal distances represent events and emotional expressions differently. This study serves as an important reference for MTT studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zaoyi Sun
- College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China.
| | - Qingyan Li
- College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
| | - Fei Luo
- College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
| | - Liang Xu
- College of Education, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
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17
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Herold CJ, Lässer MM, Schröder J. Autobiographical memory impairment in chronic schizophrenia: Significance and clinical correlates. J Neuropsychol 2023; 17:89-107. [PMID: 36065152 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies of autobiographical memory (AM) in schizophrenia yielded a reduction of specificity, richness of details and conscious recollection, which indicate both, quantitative and qualitative AM changes. However, their associations with psychopathological symptoms and neuropsychological deficits were not resolved. Therefore, we sought to investigate AM with respect to psychopathology and neuropsychology in patients with chronic schizophrenia to rule out the influence of different courses of the disease. AM of four lifetime periods was examined in 75 patients and 50 healthy controls by using a semi-structured interview. The recalled episodes were rated for memory specificity. Subsequently, one single event of each period of life was rated for details and experiential aspects of reliving (originality, vividness/visual imagery, emotional re-experiencing and emotional valence). When contrasted with healthy controls, patients recalled a significantly reduced number of episodes and personal semantic facts; moreover, memory specificity of AM was significantly lower in patients than controls. While the richness of details calculated for single events showed only minor, non-significant group differences, vividness and emotional re-experiencing were significantly less pronounced in the patient group. Along with this, AM performance correlated significantly with negative symptoms including apathy as well as verbal memory and executive functions. Our results underline the significance of overgenerality as a key feature of AM in schizophrenia as well as a dissociation between intact number of details of single events and reduced vividness and emotional re-experiencing. The extent of negative symptoms including apathy and impairments of verbal memory/executive functions may explain AM deficits in chronic schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina J Herold
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Marc M Lässer
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.,Rehaklinik Zihlschlacht, Centre for Neurological Rehabilitation, Zihlschlacht, Switzerland
| | - Johannes Schröder
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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18
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Parkin A, Parker A, Dagnall N. Effects of saccadic eye movements on episodic & semantic memory fluency in older and younger participants. Memory 2023; 31:34-46. [PMID: 36131611 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2122997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Research has demonstrated that performing a sequence of saccadic horizontal eye movements prior to retrieval facilitates performance on tests of episodic memory. This has been observed in both laboratory tasks of retention and autobiographical memory. To date, the work has centred on performance in younger individuals. This paper extends previous investigations by examining the effects of saccadic eye movements in older persons. Autobiographical episodic and semantic memory fluency was assessed in younger (age range 18-35, mean = 22.50), and older (age range 55-87, mean = 70.35) participants following saccadic (vs. fixation control) manipulations. The main effects of eye movements and age were found for episodic autobiographical memory (greater fluency after eye movements and in younger participants). Semantic autobiographical memory showed a main effect of age (greater fluency in younger participants), whereas general semantic memory showed no effect of age or eye movement. These findings indicate that saccadic horizontal eye movements can enhance episodic personal memory in older individuals. This has implications as a technique to improve autobiographical recollection in the elderly and as an adjunct in reminiscence therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Parkin
- Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Parker
- Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Neil Dagnall
- Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
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19
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES While there is a large body of research on falls and their consequences in older adults, little is known about how older adults remember them. We addressed this gap by inviting older adults to remember falls and control memories. METHODS We analyzed specificity of memories and invited participants to rate emotional valence, mental time travel, visual imagery, importance, and rehearsal, as experienced during retrieval. RESULTS Although analysis demonstrated no significant differences between memories of falls and control memories regarding specificity, participants rated memories of falls as more negative than control memories. Furthermore, they rated memories of falls as triggering higher mental time travel, higher visual imagery, higher importance, and higher rehearsal than control memories. CONCLUSIONS The negative emotional valence of memories of falls, as well as their ability to trigger significant levels of mental time travel, visual imagery, importance, and rehearsal, demonstrate how these memories are different from other memories in older adults. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS The findings demonstrate how falls can modulate memory of personal events in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim Gallouj
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
| | - Emin Altintas
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
- Laboratoire PSITEC, Psychologie: Interactions Temps Émotions Cognition, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France
| | - Mohamad El Haj
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (LPPL - EA 4638), Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Nantes, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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20
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Mille J, Izaute M, Vallet G. Liens entre le déclin sensoriel et cognitif dans le vieillissement normal : revue critique de la littérature et apports de l’approche incarnée et située de la cognition. PSYCHOLOGIE FRANCAISE 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.psfr.2022.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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21
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Effects of the use of autobiographical photographs on emotional induction in older adults: a systematic review. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 87:988-1011. [PMID: 35859072 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01712-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
There is evidence to support the positive contribution of autobiographical recall based techniques on individuals' quality of life, mood and cognitive functioning. In this review, we analyzed the effects of the use of personal photographs in interventions based on autobiographical memory in older people with and without cognitive impairment. The PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews were followed. The search was carried out in the electronic databases Web of Sciences (WOS), Medline (PubMed), SCIELO and PsycInfo (American Psychological Association). The articles based on clinical trials selected were evaluated using the PEDRo scale, which is specific to this type of article. Of the 1098 articles initially found, 6 met the inclusion criteria. The final articles focused their intervention on the use of autobiographical photographs as a means of stimulation. The results show that the use of photographs in different autobiographical recall stimulation techniques is associated with higher scores on well-being and quality of life, as well as with improvements in personal identity and cognitive functioning. This suggests that using personal photographs shows promise in enhancing the effect of these types of interventions in healthy or cognitively impaired older adults.
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22
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Bréchet L. Personal Memories and Bodily-Cues Influence Our Sense of Self. Front Psychol 2022; 13:855450. [PMID: 35814046 PMCID: PMC9257125 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.855450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
How do our bodies influence who we are? Recent research in cognitive neuroscience has examined consciousness associated with the self and related multisensory processing of bodily signals, the so-called bodily self-consciousness. A parallel line of research has highlighted the concept of the autobiographical self and the associated autonoetic consciousness, which enables us to mentally travel in time. The subjective re-experiencing of past episodes is described as re-living them from within or outside one's body. In this brief perspective, I aim to explore the underlying characteristics of self-consciousness and its relation to bodily signals and episodic memory. I will outline some recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence indicating that bodily cues play a fundamental role in autobiographical memory. Finally, I will discuss these emerging concepts regarding the current understanding of bodily-self, autobiographical-self, their links to self-consciousness, and suggest directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Bréchet
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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23
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Sawczak C, McAndrews MP, O'Connor BB, Fowler Z, Moscovitch M. I remember therefore I am: Episodic memory retrieval and self-reported trait empathy judgments in young and older adults and individuals with medial temporal lobe excisions. Cognition 2022; 225:105124. [PMID: 35483159 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
How do we know what sort of people we are? Do we reflect on specific past instances of our own behaviour, or do we just have a general idea? Previous work has emphasized the role of personal semantic memory (general autobiographical knowledge) in how we assess our own personality traits. Using a standardized trait empathy questionnaire, we show in four experiments that episodic autobiographical memory (memory for specific personal events) is associated with people's judgments of their own trait empathy. Specifically, neurologically healthy young adults rated themselves as more empathic on questionnaire items that cued episodic memories of events in which they behaved empathically. This effect, however, was diminished in people who are known to have poor episodic memory: older adults and individuals who have undergone unilateral excision of medial temporal lobe tissue (as treatment for epilepsy). Further, self-report ratings on individual questionnaire items were generally predicted by subjectively rated phenomenological qualities of the memories cued by those items, such as sensory detail, scene coherence, and overall vividness. We argue that episodic and semantic memory play different roles with respect to self-knowledge depending on life experience, the integrity of the medial temporal lobes, and whether one is assessing general abstract traits versus more concrete behaviours that embody these traits. Future research should examine different types of self-knowledge as well as personality traits other than empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mary Pat McAndrews
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada; Krembil Research Institute at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Canada
| | - Brendan Bo O'Connor
- Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA
| | - Zoë Fowler
- Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, USA
| | - Morris Moscovitch
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada; Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital, Canada
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24
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Badham SP, Justice LV, Jones LN, Myers JAC. An older adult advantage in autobiographical recall. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2022; 30:555-581. [PMID: 35422185 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2022.2063789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
This pre-registered online study aimed to measure the effect of environmental support on age-differences in autobiographical memory alongside memory for images. Young and older adults reported autobiographical memories about which they regularly thought (high environmental support through practice) or that were experimentally cued to be mundane (low environmental support). The support manipulation was also applied to descriptions of images that were produced whilst images remained on screen (high support) or produced from memory (low support). In line with existing theory, support disproportionately benefitted older adults in the quantity of information produced. However, analysis of the autobiographical descriptions showed no age deficit in reporting episodic detail, in contrast to much of the existing literature. A second group of young and older adults also evaluated the descriptions produced, and older adults' descriptions were consistently rated as higher quality than young adults' descriptions across several dimensions, such as vividness and clarity. An unplanned meta-analysis was conducted to assess if a publication bias existed in the literature favoring the reporting of age-deficits in producing episodic detail in autobiographical memory: there was no evidence for a bias and the modal result of age deficits was generally supported. A key distinction is that the current study was conducted online - evidence is presented to argue that older adults may perform better at autobiographical memory tasks outside the lab.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucy V Justice
- NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham UK
| | - Lauren N Jones
- NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham UK
| | - James A C Myers
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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25
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Colás-Blanco I, Mioche J, La Corte V, Piolino P. The role of temporal distance of the events on the spatiotemporal dynamics of mental time travel to one's personal past and future. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2378. [PMID: 35149740 PMCID: PMC8837801 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05902-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Mental time travel to personal past and future events shows remarkable cognitive and neural similarities. Both temporalities seem to rely on the same core network involving episodic binding and monitoring processes. However, it is still unclear in what way the temporal distance of the simulated events modulates the recruitment of this network when mental time-travelling to the past and the future. The present study explored the electrophysiological correlates of remembering and imagining personal events at two temporal distances from the present moment (near and far). Temporal distance modulated the late parietal component (LPC) and the late frontal effect (LFE), respectively involved in episodic and monitoring processes. Interestingly, temporal distance modulations differed in the past and future event simulation, suggesting greater episodic processing for near as opposed to far future situations (with no differences on near and far past), and the implementation of greater post-simulation monitoring processes for near past as compared to far past events (with high demands on both near and far future). These findings show that both past and future event simulations are affected by the temporal distance of the events, although not exactly in a mirrored way. They are discussed according to the increasing role of semantic memory in episodic mental time travel to farther temporal distances from the present.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Colás-Blanco
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (MC2Lab), UR 7536, Université de Paris, 71 Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Boulogne-Billancourt, Île de France, France.
| | - J Mioche
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (MC2Lab), UR 7536, Université de Paris, 71 Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Boulogne-Billancourt, Île de France, France
| | - V La Corte
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (MC2Lab), UR 7536, Université de Paris, 71 Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Boulogne-Billancourt, Île de France, France.,Institut de la Mémoire et de la Maladie d'Alzheimer (IM2A), Département de Neurologie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - P Piolino
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (MC2Lab), UR 7536, Université de Paris, 71 Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Boulogne-Billancourt, Île de France, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
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26
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Iriye H, Ehrsson HH. Perceptual illusion of body-ownership within an immersive realistic environment enhances memory accuracy and re-experiencing. iScience 2022; 25:103584. [PMID: 35005534 PMCID: PMC8717413 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Our bodies provide a necessary scaffold for memories of past events. Yet, we are just beginning to understand how feelings of one's own body during the encoding of realistic events shape memory. Participants formed memories for immersive, lifelike events by watching pre-recorded 3D videos that involved a first-person view of a mannequin's body through head mounted displays. We manipulated feelings of body ownership over the mannequin using a perceptual full-body illusion. Participants completed cued recall questions and subjective ratings (i.e., degree of reliving, emotional intensity, vividness, and belief in memory accuracy) for each video immediately following encoding and one week later. Sensing the mannequin's body as one's own during encoding enhanced the following factors: memory accuracy across testing points, immediate reliving, delayed emotional intensity, vividness, and belief in memory accuracy. These findings demonstrate that a basic sense of bodily selfhood provides a crucial foundation for the accurate reliving of the past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Iriye
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 77, Sweden
| | - H. Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 77, Sweden
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27
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Abichou K, La Corte V, Bellegarde A, Nicolas S, Piolino P. How rich are false memories in a naturalistic context in healthy aging? Memory 2021; 30:262-278. [PMID: 34850666 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2021.2006717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The recall of factual and contextual information is a core characteristic of episodic memory sensitive to aging effects. The innovative aim of the present study was to assess in a naturalistic context the quantity and quality of correct and false free recalls among younger and older adults considering feature binding (What-Where-When-Details) and recollection (Remembering vs. Knowing). Thanks to virtual reality, we designed a multimodal environment simulating a lively town in which we implemented a variant of a DRM task rich in sets of semantically related items (e.g., fruits on a market stall). We asked 30 young and 30 older participants to navigate in the virtual environment, paying attention to the items, and then recall as many items and as much contextual information as possible and indicate the presence of recollection. As expected, older adults produced fewer correct recall but more intrusions than younger adults, and their correct recall was more deficient in binding and recollection. In both age groups, false recall was associated with the correct context inferred from a related set of items. However, the intrusions produced by older adults were highly recollected compared to those of the younger adults, and they were associated with false item-related contextual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouloud Abichou
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - Valentina La Corte
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's Disease, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Alexandre Bellegarde
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
| | - Serge Nicolas
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Department of psychology, Université de Paris, MC2Lab, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
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28
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Mair A, Poirier M, Conway MA. Age effects in autobiographical memory depend on the measure. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0259279. [PMID: 34714869 PMCID: PMC8555790 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies examining age effects in autobiographical memory have produced inconsistent results. This study examined whether a set of typical autobiographical memory measures produced equivalent results in a single participant sample. Five memory tests (everyday memory, autobiographical memory from the past year, autobiographical memory from age 11-17, word-cued autobiographical memory, and word-list recall) were administered in a single sample of young and older adults. There was significant variance in the tests' sensitivity to age: word-cued autobiographical memory produced the largest deficit in older adults, similar in magnitude to word-list recall. In contrast, older adults performed comparatively well on the other measures. The pattern of findings was broadly consistent with the results of previous investigations, suggesting that (1) the results of the different AM tasks are reliable, and (2) variable age effects in the autobiographical memory literature are at least partly due to the use of different tasks, which cannot be considered interchangeable measures of autobiographical memory ability. The results are also consistent with recent work dissociating measures of specificity and detail in autobiographical memory, and suggest that specificity is particularly sensitive to ageing. In contrast, detail is less sensitive to ageing, but is influenced by retention interval and event type. The extent to which retention interval and event type interact with age remains unclear; further research using specially designed autobiographical memory tasks could resolve this issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Mair
- Department of Psychology, City, University of London, Northampton Square, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology and Sport Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Marie Poirier
- Department of Psychology, City, University of London, Northampton Square, London, United Kingdom
| | - Martin A. Conway
- Department of Psychology, City, University of London, Northampton Square, London, United Kingdom
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29
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Fortin J, Grondin S, Blanchet S. Level of processing's effect on episodic retrieval following traumatic brain injury in the elderly: An event-related potential study. Brain Cogn 2021; 154:105805. [PMID: 34638050 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Individuals who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can suffer from episodic memory impairments. Until now, the neural correlates underlying episodic retrieval in individuals with TBI remained scarce, particularly in older adults. We aimed to fill this gap by recording event-related potentials during an old/new episodic recognition task in 26 older adults, 13 healthy and 13 with TBI. The task manipulated the level of processing in encoding with the use of semantic organizational strategies (deep guided, deep self-guided, and shallow encoding). For all encoding conditions, behavioral data analyses on the discrimination rate indicated that older adults with TBI were globally impaired compared with healthy older adults. The electrophysiological results indicated that the left-parietal effect was larger in the deep guided condition than in the shallow condition. In addition, the results show that the mid-frontal and left-parietal positive old/new effects were absent in both groups. The main findings are the observation, in the control group only, of an early frontal old/new effect (P200; 150-300 ms) and of a late frontal old/new effect on the left hemisphere, only in the Spontaneous condition. Together, results suggest an impairment of the allocation of attentional resources and working memory necessary for retrieving and monitoring items in the elderly with TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Fortin
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec city, Quebec, Canada; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, CIRRIS, Quebec City (QC), Canada.
| | - S Grondin
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec city, Quebec, Canada; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, CIRRIS, Quebec City (QC), Canada.
| | - S Blanchet
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec city, Quebec, Canada; Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (LMC(2)), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France.
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Suo T, Wang Q. Culture and visual perspective in mental time travel: the relations to psychological well-being. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1982951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tong Suo
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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31
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Bergouignan L, Nyberg L, Ehrsson HH. Out-of-body memory encoding causes third-person perspective at recall. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1958823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Lars Nyberg
- Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - H. Henrik Ehrsson
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Frankenberg C, Pantel J, Haberkorn U, Degen C, Buchsbaum MS, Herold CJ, Schröder J. Neural Correlates of Autobiographical Memory: Evidence From a Positron Emission Tomography Study in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:730713. [PMID: 34589011 PMCID: PMC8473866 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.730713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Autobiographical memory (AM) changes are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In recent neuroimaging studies, AM changes have been associated with numerous cerebral sites, such as the frontal cortices, the mesial temporal lobe, or the posterior cingulum. Regional glucose uptake in these sites was investigated for underlying subdimensions using factor analysis. Subsequently, the factors were examined with respect to AM performance in a subgroup of patients. Methods: Data from 109 memory clinic referrals, who presented with MCI (n = 60), mild AD (n = 49), or were cognitively intact, were analyzed. The glucose metabolic rates determined by positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in 34 cerebral sites important for AM were investigated for underlying subdimensions by calculating factor analysis with varimax rotation. Subsequently, the respective factor scores were correlated with the episodic and semantic AM performance of 22 patients, which was measured with a semi-structured interview assessing episodic memories (characterized by event-related emotional, sensory, contextual, and spatial-temporal details) and personal semantic knowledge from three periods of life (primary school, early adulthood, and recent years). Results: Factor analysis identified seven factors explaining 69% of the variance. While patients with MCI and AD showed lower values than controls on the factors frontal cortex, mesial temporal substructures, and occipital cortex, patients with MCI presented with increased values on the factors posterior cingulum and left temporo-prefrontal areas. The factors anterior cingulum and right temporal cortex showed only minor, non-significant group differences. Solely, the factor mesial temporal substructures was significantly correlated with both episodic memories (r = 0.424, p < 0.05) and personal semantic knowledge (r = 0.547, p < 0.01) in patients with MCI/AD. Conclusions: The factor structure identified corresponds by large to the morphological and functional interrelations of the respective sites. While reduced glucose uptake on the factors frontal cortex, mesial temporal substructures, and occipital cortex in the patient group may correspond to neurodegenerative changes, increased values on the factors posterior cingulum and left temporo-prefrontal areas in MCI may result from compensatory efforts. Interestingly, changes of the mesial temporal substructures were correlated with both semantic and episodic AM. Our findings suggest that AM deficits do not only reflect neurodegenerative changes but also refer to compensatory mechanisms as they involve both quantitative losses of specific memories and qualitative changes with a semantization of memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Frankenberg
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- Institute of Gerontology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Pantel
- Institute of General Practice, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Uwe Haberkorn
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Degen
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Monte S. Buchsbaum
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Christina J. Herold
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Schröder
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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Grande X, Berron D, Maass A, Bainbridge WA, Düzel E. Content-specific vulnerability of recent episodic memories in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia 2021; 160:107976. [PMID: 34314781 PMCID: PMC8434425 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Endel Tulving's episodic memory framework emphasizes the multifaceted re-experiencing of personal events. Indeed, decades of research focused on the experiential nature of episodic memories, usually treating recent episodic memory as a coherent experiential quality. However, recent insights into the functional architecture of the medial temporal lobe show that different types of mnemonic information are segregated into distinct neural pathways in brain circuits empirically associated with episodic memory. Moreover, recent memories do not fade as a whole under conditions of progressive neurodegeneration in these brain circuits, notably in Alzheimer's disease. Instead, certain memory content seem particularly vulnerable from the moment of their encoding while other content can remain memorable consistently across individuals and contexts. We propose that these observations are related to the content-specific functional architecture of the medial temporal lobe and consequently to a content-specific impairment of memory at different stages of the neurodegeneration. To develop Endel Tulving's inspirational legacy further and to advance our understanding of how memory function is affected by neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, we postulate that it is compelling to focus on the representational content of recent episodic memories. The functional anatomy of episodic memory segregates different memory content. Alzheimer's disease may cause content-specific loss of recent memories Content-specific memorability across individuals changes with Alzheimer's disease. Content-specific assessment could provide new insights into episodic memory in health and disease
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Affiliation(s)
- Xenia Grande
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - David Berron
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany; Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Anne Maass
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany
| | | | - Emrah Düzel
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, United Kingdom.
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Kinley I, Porteous M, Levy Y, Becker S. Visual perspective as a two-dimensional construct in episodic future thought. Conscious Cogn 2021; 93:103148. [PMID: 34052641 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Visual perspective (first-person vs. third-person) is a salient characteristic of memory and mental imagery with important cognitive and behavioural consequences. Most work on visual perspective treats it as a unidimensional construct. However, third-person perspective can have opposite effects on emotion and motivation, sometimes intensifying these and other times acting as a distancing mechanism, as in PTSD. For this reason among others, we propose that visual perspective in memory and mental imagery is best understood as varying along two dimensions: first, the degree to which first-person perspective predominates in the episodic imagery, and second, the degree to which the self is visually salient from a third-person perspective. We show that, in episodic future thinking, these are anticorrelated but non-redundant. These results further our basic understanding of the potent but divergent effects visual perspective has on emotion and motivation, both in everyday life and in psychiatric conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Kinley
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Canada
| | - Morgan Porteous
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Canada
| | - Yarden Levy
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Canada
| | - Suzanna Becker
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Canada.
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Kapsetaki ME, Militaru IE, Sanguino I, Boccanera M, Zaara N, Zaman A, Loreto F, Malhotra PA, Russell C. Type of encoded material and age modulate the relationship between episodic recall of visual perspective and autobiographical memory. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1922417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marianna E. Kapsetaki
- Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Ioana Elisabeta Militaru
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Ines Sanguino
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Matilde Boccanera
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Neila Zaara
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Andreea Zaman
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Flavia Loreto
- Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Paresh A. Malhotra
- Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Charlotte Russell
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
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36
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Vannucci M, Chiorri C, Favilli L. Web-Based Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memories in Young and Older Adults. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11050660. [PMID: 34070141 PMCID: PMC8158337 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11050660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Autobiographical memories (ABMs) produce rich phenomenological experiences. Although few standardized and comprehensive measures of the phenomenology of ABMs have been developed, a web-based assessment of the full range of phenomenological properties is still missing. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap and tested the psychometric properties of a web-based version of the Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memory (APAM) in a group of young and older adults. Specifically, taking advantage of the flexibility of web-based assessment methodology, we tested the rating consistency of APAM items, asking participants to rate the phenomenology of their ABMs with respect to seven cues, administered in one per day in seven different days. In each session, we also collected ratings of mood and arousal. Using linear mixed modeling (LMM), we could examine whether the phenomenology ratings differed with respect to age group while controlling for sex, age of the memory, arousal, mood, and specificity of the memory. Results revealed an adequate level of consistency of ratings in both young and older adults. Moreover, LMMs revealed a more intense experience of recollection and reliving (i.e., sensory and emotional) and a higher confidence in memory accuracy in older compared to younger adults. The theoretical and practical usefulness of a web-based assessment of the phenomenology of ABMs are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manila Vannucci
- Department of Neurofarba, Section of Psychology, University of Florence, 50135 Firenze, Italy;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-055-2055863; Fax: +39-055-6236047
| | - Carlo Chiorri
- Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, 16126 Genova, Italy;
| | - Laura Favilli
- Department of Neurofarba, Section of Psychology, University of Florence, 50135 Firenze, Italy;
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Warne N, Rice F. Links between depressive symptoms and the observer perspective for autobiographical memories and imagined events: a high familial risk study. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1922418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Naomi Warne
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- Centre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Frances Rice
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
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38
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Zaman A, Russell C. Does autonoetic consciousness in episodic memory rely on recall from a first-person perspective? JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1922419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andreea Zaman
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Charlotte Russell
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
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39
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Niese ZA, Eibach RP, Libby LK. Picturing yourself: a social-cognitive process model to integrate third-person imagery effects. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1912051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zachary Adolph Niese
- Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Lisa K. Libby
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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40
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Abichou K, La Corte V, Sperduti M, Gaston-Bellegarde A, Nicolas S, Piolino P. The production of false recognition and the associated state of consciousness following encoding in a naturalistic context in aging. Conscious Cogn 2021; 90:103097. [PMID: 33690048 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 01/09/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Using virtual reality, we implemented a naturalistic variant of the DRM paradigm in young and older adults to evaluate false recall and false recognition. We distinguished false recognition related to the highest semantic association (the critical lures), semantic similarity (i.e. items that belong to the same semantic category), and perceptual similarity (i.e. items that are similar, but not identical in terms of shape or color). The data revealed that younger adults recalled and recognized more correct elements than older adults did while the older adults intruded more critical items than younger adults. Both age groups produced false recognition related to the critical items, followed by perceptually and then semantically related items. False recognitions were highly recollective as they were mainly associated with a sense of remembering, even more so in older adults than in young adults. The decline of executive functions and working memory predicted age-related increases in false memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouloud Abichou
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France.
| | - Valentina La Corte
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institute of Memory and Alzheimer's Disease, Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Marco Sperduti
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
| | | | - Serge Nicolas
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Pascale Piolino
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
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41
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Folville A, Vandeleene N, Bastin C. Shared event memory in aging: Across-participants similarity of vividness judgements decreases with age. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 29:1-17. [PMID: 33618619 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2021.1892578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
When they remember the same events, humans recollect common episodic traces. For making vividness judgements, older adults rely less than young adults on retrieved episodic details. Here, we examined the similarity of the subjective experience of remembering and the associated memory content across participants and we investigated age-effects. Young and older adults studied pictures associated with labels. At retrieval, participants judged the vividness of their memories and recalled pictures details. We examined the similarity of vividness judgements and memory recall across-participants. Across-participants similarity in vividness judgements was higher in young than in older adults, while no age-difference in the similarity of the richness of memory recall between participants was found. Together, these findings suggest that older adults' vividness ratings are less similar from one participant to another than those of young adults, which may be explained by how older adults use memory details to frame their sense of memory vividness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrien Folville
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Nora Vandeleene
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Christine Bastin
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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42
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Frankenberg C, Knebel M, Degen C, Siebert JS, Wahl HW, Schröder J. Autobiographical Memory in Healthy Aging: a Decade-long Longitudinal Study. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 29:158-179. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1859082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Maren Knebel
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Degen
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jelena Sophie Siebert
- Network Aging Research, Institute of Psychology, Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Hans-Werner Wahl
- Network Aging Research, Institute of Psychology, Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Schröder
- Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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43
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El Haj M, Moustafa AA, Roche J, Pasquier F, Kapogiannis D, Gallouj K, Antoine P. The "authentic subjective experience" of memory in Alzheimer's disease. Transl Neurosci 2020; 11:201-207. [PMID: 33335759 PMCID: PMC7712381 DOI: 10.1515/tnsci-2020-0123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2020] [Revised: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Most research has mainly focused on the decline of the subjective experience in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, few attempts have been made to evaluate whether subjective experience may be maintained in AD. In this narrative review, we attempt to provide a positive view, according to which patients with AD can enjoy, to some extent, subjective experience during memory retrieval. Memory and expression difficulties (e.g., aphasia) limit the ability of patients with AD to describe their memories, resulting in a little specificity of reported memories. However, according to the “authentic subjective experience” view, we propose in this study that the ability to mentally relive these memories could be preserved in the patients. By proposing the authentic subjective experience view, we attempt to provide an alternative view to the general consideration that the patients suffer a diminished subjective experience. This view can contribute to a larger clinical framework that gives a positive meaning to the subjective experience of patients with AD. Furthermore, several clinical and empirical implications can be drawn from the authentic subjective experience view, including the possibility to evaluate behavioral correlates of the subjective experience in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Univ Nantes, Laboratoire de psychologie des Pays de la Loire, LPPL, EA 4638, F-44000 Nantes, France.,Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Ahmed A Moustafa
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology & Marcs Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.,Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Jean Roche
- CHU de Lille, Unité de Psychogériatrie, Pôle de gérontologie, 59037 Lille, France
| | - Florence Pasquier
- University Lille Nord de France UDSL and Memory Clinic, CHU, Lille, France
| | | | - Karim Gallouj
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
| | - Pascal Antoine
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000 Lille, France
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44
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El Haj M, Kapogiannis D, Antoine P. The picture of the past: Pictures to cue autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2020; 42:914-923. [PMID: 33003989 PMCID: PMC9988368 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2020.1825636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION This study investigated the effect of pictorial cues on autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We assessed autobiographical memory of patients with AD and cognitively normal older adults in two conditions. METHODS In one condition, the participants were provided with verbal instructions to retrieve three autobiographical memories. In the second condition, the same verbal instructions were provided; however, the participants were simultaneously presented with three pictures. We analyzed autobiographical memory regarding specificity, that is, the ability to remember unique events situated in time and space. RESULTS Analysis demonstrated higher autobiographical memory after verbal-and-visual cuing than after the no cue condition in both patients with AD and cognitively normal older adults. DISCUSSION Pictorial cues seem to be an effective method to alleviate autobiographical compromise in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Laboratoire de psychologie des Pays de la Loire, LPPL, EA 4638, Univ Nantes , Nantes, France.,Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Unité de Gériatrie , Tourcoing, France.,Institut Universitaire de France , Paris, France
| | - Dimitrios Kapogiannis
- Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging , Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Pascal Antoine
- CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Univ. Lille , Lille, France
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45
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Lanius RA, Terpou BA, McKinnon MC. The sense of self in the aftermath of trauma: lessons from the default mode network in posttraumatic stress disorder. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2020; 11:1807703. [PMID: 33178406 PMCID: PMC7594748 DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2020.1807703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Trauma can profoundly affect the sense of self, where both cognitive and somatic disturbances to the sense of self are reported clinically by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These disturbances are captured eloquently by clinical accounts, such as, 'I do not know myself anymore,' 'I will never be able to experience normal emotions again,' and, 'I feel dead inside.' Self-related thoughts and experiences are represented neurobiologically by a large-scale, cortical network located along the brain's mid-line and referred to as the default mode network (DMN). Recruited predominantly during rest in healthy participants, the DMN is also active during self-referential and autobiographical memory processing - processes which, collectively, are thought to provide the foundation for a stable sense of self that persists across time and may be available for conscious access. In participants with PTSD, however, the DMN shows substantially reduced resting-state functional connectivity as compared to healthy individuals, with greater reductions associated with heightened PTSD symptom severity. Critically, individuals with PTSD describe frequently that their traumatic experiences have become intimately linked to their perceived sense of self, a perception which may be mediated, in part, by alterations in the DMN. Accordingly, identification of alterations in the functional connectivity of the DMN during rest, and during subliminal, trauma-related stimulus conditions, has the potential to offer critical insight into the dynamic interplay between trauma- and self-related processing in PTSD. Here, we discuss DMN-related alterations during these conditions, pointing further towards the clinical significance of these findings in relation to past- and present-centred therapies for the treatment of PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth A Lanius
- Department of Neuroscience, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.,Imaging Division, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Braeden A Terpou
- Department of Neuroscience, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Margaret C McKinnon
- Mood Disorders Program, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.,Homewood Research Institute, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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46
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Searching for the past: Exploring the dynamics of direct and generative autobiographical memory reconstruction among young and cognitively normal older adults. Mem Cognit 2020; 49:422-437. [PMID: 32965620 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-020-01098-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Episodic autobiographical memories (EAMs) can come to mind through two retrieval routes, one direct (i.e., an EAM is retrieved almost instantaneously) and the other generative (i.e., by using autobiographical/general knowledge to cue an EAM). It is well established that normal cognitive aging is associated with a reduction in the retrieval of EAMs, but the contributions of direct or generative reconstruction to the age-related shift toward general memories remain unknown. Prior studies also have not clarified whether similar cognitive mechanisms facilitate the ability to successfully reconstruct EAMs and elaborate them in event-specific detail. To address these gaps in knowledge, young and older participants were asked to reconstruct EAMs using a "think-aloud" paradigm and then describe in detail a subset of retrieved memories. An adapted scoring procedure was implemented to categorize memories accessed during reconstruction, and the Autobiographical Interview (AI) scoring procedure was utilized for elaboration scoring. Results indicated that in comparison with young adults, older adults not only engaged in direct retrieval less often than young adults but they also more often ended generative retrieval at general events instead of EAMs. The ability to elaborate EAMs with internal details was positively associated with the ability to use generative retrieval to reconstruct EAMs in both young and older adults, but there was no relationship between internal detail elaboration and direct retrieval in either age group. Taken together, these results indicate age-related differences in direct and generative retrieval contribute to overgeneral autobiographical memory and they support a connection between generative retrieval and elaboration.
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Gauthier B, Bréchet L, Lance F, Mange R, Herbelin B, Faivre N, Bolton TAW, Ville DVD, Blanke O. First-person body view modulates the neural substrates of episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness: A functional connectivity study. Neuroimage 2020; 223:117370. [PMID: 32931940 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Episodic memory (EM) is classically conceived as a memory for events, localized in space and time, and characterized by autonoetic consciousness (ANC) allowing to mentally travel back in time and subjectively relive an event. Building on recent evidence that the first-person visual co-perception of one's own body during encoding impacts EM, we used a scene recognition task in immersive virtual reality (VR) and measured how first-person body view would modulate peri-encoding resting-state fMRI, EM performance, and ANC. Specifically, we investigated the impact of body view on post-encoding functional connectivity in an a priori network of regions related either to EM or multisensory bodily processing and used these regions in a seed-to-whole brain analysis. Post-encoding connectivity between right hippocampus (rHC) and right parahippocampus (rPHC) was enhanced when participants encoded scenes while seeing their body. Moreover, the strength of connectivity between the rHC, rPHC and the neocortex displayed two main patterns with respect to body view. The connectivity with a sensorimotor fronto-parietal network, comprising primary somatosensory and primary motor cortices, correlated with ANC after - but not before - encoding, depending on body view. The opposite change of connectivity was found between rHC, rPHC and the medial parietal cortex (from being correlated with ANC before encoding to an absence of correlation after encoding), but irrespective of body view. Linking immersive VR and fMRI for the study of EM and ANC, these findings suggest that seeing one's own body during encoding impacts the brain activity related to EM formation by modulating the connectivity between the right hippocampal formation and the neocortical regions involved in the processing of multisensory bodily signals and self-consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baptiste Gauthier
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Lucie Bréchet
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Department of neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 02215 Boston, MA, USA; Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, 02131 Boston, MA, USA; Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University of Geneva, 24 Rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Florian Lance
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Robin Mange
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Imverse SA, Chemin du Pré-Fleuri 3, 1228 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bruno Herbelin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nathan Faivre
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition CNRS UMR 5105 UGA BSHM, France
| | - Thomas A W Bolton
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, CIBM, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Institute of Bioengineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 10, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Decoded Neurofeedback, ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, 2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Dimitri Van De Ville
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, CIBM, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Institute of Bioengineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 10, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Neuroprosthetics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, University of Geneva, 24 Rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
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El Haj M, Boutoleau-Bretonnière C, Janssen SMJ. Eye movements of recent and remote autobiographical memories: fewer and longer lasting fixations during the retrieval of childhood memories. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2466-2473. [PMID: 32862309 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01403-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/04/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
There is an increased interest in the study of eye movements during the retrieval of autobiographical memories. Following this trend, the aim of the current study was to evaluate eye movements during the retrieval of remote and recent autobiographical memories. We instructed 71 participants to retrieve memories of personal events from early childhood (6-10 years), late childhood/early adolescence (11-14 years), late adolescence (15-18 years), and the last month. During the retrieval of these memories, participants wore eye-tracking glasses. Analyses showed that early childhood memories triggered fewer fixations and fixations with longer durations than memories from the last month. However, no significant differences were observed for the number of saccades, saccade durations, or total amplitude of the saccades. The fewer and longer lasting fixations during the retrieval of early childhood memories can be attributed either to the visual system reconstructing remote memories from an observer perspective or to difficulties when reconstructing remote memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Faculté de Psychologie, Laboratoire de Psychologie Des Pays de La Loire (LPPL - EA 4638), Université de Nantes, Chemin de La Censive du Tertre, Univ Angers, BP 81227, 44312, Nantes, France. .,Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France. .,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
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Jordão M, Pinho MS, St. Jacques PL. The effects of aging and an episodic specificity induction on spontaneous task-unrelated thought. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237340. [PMID: 32776948 PMCID: PMC7416953 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
When voluntarily describing their past or future, older adults typically show a reduction in episodic specificity (e.g., including fewer details reflecting a specific event, time and/or place). However, aging has less impact on other types of tasks that place minimal demands on strategic retrieval such as spontaneous thoughts. In the current study, we investigated age-related differences in the episodic specificity of spontaneous thoughts using experimenter-based coding of thought descriptions. Additionally, we tested whether an episodic specificity induction, which increases episodic detail during deliberate retrieval of events in young and older adults, has the same effect under spontaneous retrieval. Twenty-four younger and 24 healthy older adults performed two counterbalanced sessions including a video, the episodic specificity or control induction, and a vigilance task. In the episodic specificity induction, participants recalled the details of the video while in the control they solved math exercises. The impact of this manipulation on the episodic specificity of spontaneous thoughts was assessed in the subsequent vigilance task, in which participants were randomly stopped to describe their thoughts and classify them as deliberate/spontaneous. We found no differences in episodic specificity between age groups in spontaneous thoughts, supporting the prediction that automatic retrieval attenuates the episodic specificity decrease in aging. The lack of age differences was present regardless of the induction, showing no interactions. For the induction, we also found no main effect, indicating that automatic retrieval bypasses event construction and accesses pre-stored events. Overall, our evidence suggests that spontaneous retrieval is a promising strategy to support episodic specificity in aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magda Jordão
- Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Univ Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Maria Salomé Pinho
- Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Univ Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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Episodic memory contributions to autobiographical memory and open-ended problem-solving specificity in younger and older adults. Mem Cognit 2020; 47:1592-1605. [PMID: 31215008 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-019-00953-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Research indicates that episodic memory processes are required to access specific autobiographical events and the details encompassed by a single event for several functions, including remembering and personal problem solving. Since healthy cognitive aging is associated with episodic memory decline, we hypothesized that older adults would be impaired at producing specific autobiographical events and details in service of these two functions. To test this hypothesis, younger and older adults completed two tasks (generation and elaboration) across two experiments (autobiographical memory and problem solving). The generation task required participants to produce multiple specific event memories or solutions to cues within a 90-s time period. The elaboration task required participants to select a single memory or solution to describe in detail. We quantified the number of specific and non-specific responses provided during the generation task and scored the descriptions from the elaboration task for the number of episodic (internal) and non-episodic (external) details. Across experiment, older adults produced fewer specific responses (generation task) and fewer internal details (elaboration task) than younger adults. In addition, older adults generated more non-specific responses and external details than younger adults for the memory but not the problem-solving experiment. A correlational analysis showed that the number of specific responses (generation) and internal details (elaboration) correlated for the memory but not for the problem-solving experiment. These results show that age-related episodic memory decline impairs access to specific autobiographical events and detail information when remembering and problem solving, but that additional cognitive factors impact how these age declines present when solving problems.
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