Finding positive meaning in memories of negative events adaptively updates memory

Update on "Emotion and autobiographical memory": 14 years of advances in understanding functions, constructions, and consequences

Holland and Kensinger (2010) reviewed the literature on "Emotion and autobiographical memory." They focused on two broad ways that emotions influence memory: (1) emotion during an event influences how the event is remembered, and (2) emotion and emotional goals during memory retrieval influence how past events are remembered. We begin by providing a brief update on the key points from that review. Holland and Kensinger (2010) also had noted a number of important avenues for future work. Here, we describe what has been learned about the functions of autobiographical memory and their reconstructive nature. Relatedly, we review more recent research on memory reconstruction in the context of visual perspective shifts, counterfactual thinking, nostalgia, and morality. This research has emphasized the reciprocal nature of the interactions between emotion and autobiographical memory: Not only do emotions influence memory, memories influence emotions. Next, we discuss advances that have been made in understanding the reciprocal relations between stress, mood, and autobiographical memory. Finally, we discuss the research that is situating emotional autobiographical memories within a social framework, providing a bedrock for collective memories. Despite the many advances of the past 14 years, many open questions remain; throughout the review we note domains in which we hope to see advances over the next decades.

Change in emotion-based narrative as a potential mechanism of change in a brief treatment for borderline personality disorder

Background: The move from inconsistent and problematic autobiographical narrative to a more coherent and reality-based narrative construction of the Self has been discussed as potential mechanism of change in psychotherapies for personality disorders. So far, little empirical evidence exists that demonstrates in a time-dependent design the role of narrative construction in the treatment of borderline personality disorder, in particular when it comes to understanding the integration of body-related information from the affective system with the autobiographical narrative. The present study aims at demonstrating change in emotion-based narrative markers over brief psychiatric treatment and to assess the impact of these changes on subsequent symptom change. Methods: A total of N = 57 clients with borderline personality disorder were assessed at three timepoint over the course of four months of brief psychiatric treatment, within the context of a secondary process-outcome analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Symptom change was assessed using the OQ-45.2 and emotion-narrative change was assessed using the Narrative-Emotion Process Coding System to code client's in-session speech in terms of problem, transition and change markers. Results: All three emotion-based marker categories evidenced significant changes in the assumed direction. The reduction in problem emotion-based narrative markers (e.g., empty story telling) between session 1 and 5 into the treatment predicted the symptom reduction assessed between session 5 and 10. Conclusions: Emotion-based narrative construction may be a suitable method to study the pathway of change toward a more coherent and reality-based narrative construction of the Self-in-interaction-with-the-Other. Reduction of emotion-based problem-marker may be a promising candidate for a mechanism of change in treatments for personality disorders which should be tested in a time-dependent controlled design.

Hooking the Self Onto the Past: How Positive Autobiographical Memory Retrieval Benefits People With Social Anxiety

Do people with social anxiety (SA) benefit from positive memory retrieval that heightens self-relevant meaning? In this preregistered study, an analog sample of 255 participants with self-reported clinically significant symptoms of SA were randomly assigned to retrieve and process a positive social-autobiographical memory by focusing on either its self-relevant meaning (deep processing) or its perceptual features (superficial processing). Participants were then socially excluded and instructed to reimagine their positive memory. Analyses revealed that participants assigned to the deep processing condition experienced significantly greater improvements than participants in the superficial processing condition in positive affect, social safeness, and positive beliefs about others during initial memory retrieval and in negative and positive beliefs about the self following memory reactivation during recovery from exclusion. These novel findings highlight the potential utility of memory-based interventions for SA that work by "hooking" self-meaning onto recollections of positive interpersonal experiences that elicit feelings of social acceptance.

Aversive memories can be weakened during human sleep via the reactivation of positive interfering memories

Recollecting painful or traumatic experiences can be deeply troubling. Sleep may offer an opportunity to reduce such suffering. We developed a procedure to weaken older aversive memories by reactivating newer positive memories during sleep. Participants viewed 48 nonsense words each paired with a unique aversive image, followed by an overnight sleep. In the next evening, participants learned associations between half of the words and additional positive images, creating interference. During the following non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, auditory memory cues were unobtrusively delivered. Upon waking, presenting cues associated with both aversive and positive images during sleep, as opposed to not presenting cues, weakened aversive memory recall while increasing positive memory intrusions. Substantiating these memory benefits, computational modeling revealed that cueing facilitated evidence accumulation toward positive affect judgments. Moreover, cue-elicited theta brain rhythms during sleep predominantly predicted the recall of positive memories. A noninvasive sleep intervention can thus modify aversive recollection and affective responses.

Counterfactual thinking induces different neural patterns of memory modification in anxious individuals

Episodic counterfactual thinking (eCFT) is the process of mentally simulating alternate versions of experiences, which confers new phenomenological properties to the original memory and may be a useful therapeutic target for trait anxiety. However, it remains unclear how the neural representations of a memory change during eCFT. We hypothesized that eCFT-induced memory modification is associated with changes to the neural pattern of a memory primarily within the default mode network, moderated by dispositional anxiety levels. We tested this proposal by examining the representational dynamics of eCFT for 39 participants varying in trait anxiety. During eCFT, lateral parietal regions showed progressively more distinct activity patterns, whereas medial frontal neural activity patterns became more similar to those of the original memory. Neural pattern similarity in many default mode network regions was moderated by trait anxiety, where highly anxious individuals exhibited more generalized representations for upward eCFT (better counterfactual outcomes), but more distinct representations for downward eCFT (worse counterfactual outcomes). Our findings illustrate the efficacy of examining eCFT-based memory modification via neural pattern similarity, as well as the intricate interplay between trait anxiety and eCFT generation.

Post-retrieval stress impairs subsequent memory depending on hippocampal memory trace reinstatement during reactivation

Upon retrieval, memories can become susceptible to meaningful events, such as stress. Post-retrieval memory changes may be attributed to an alteration of the original memory trace during reactivation-dependent reconsolidation or, alternatively, to the modification of retrieval-related memory traces that impact future remembering. Hence, how post-retrieval memory changes emerge in the human brain is unknown. In a 3-day functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we show that post-retrieval stress impairs subsequent memory depending on the strength of neural reinstatement of the original memory trace during reactivation, driven by the hippocampus and its cross-talk with neocortical representation areas. Comparison of neural patterns during immediate and final memory testing further revealed that successful retrieval was linked to pattern-dissimilarity in controls, suggesting the use of a different trace, whereas stressed participants relied on the original memory representation. These representation changes were again dependent on neocortical reinstatement during reactivation. Our findings show disruptive stress effects on the consolidation of retrieval-related memory traces that support future remembering.

Writing to your past-self can make you feel better

Self-compassionate writing has been shown to be helpful for improving the mental state in some individuals. Here, we investigated how the writer's attitude toward his/her past, present and future and the focus of the writing, i.e., social experience in the past versus self-experience, modulate these effects. In Experiment 1, 150 undergraduates wrote a compassionate letter to their past-self and to their future-self and responded to the Japanese version of the Adolescent Time Inventory-Time Attitudes (ATI-TA) questionnaire. Writing to past-self decreased negative feelings more than writing to future-self. Further, participants who had negative feelings toward their past, present, and future, as assessed by the ATI-TA, were more likely to be emotionally affected by writing a letter to their past-self. In Experiment 2, 31 undergraduates wrote a letter focusing on what they had experienced together with someone, and another 31 undergraduates wrote focusing on what they had experienced alone. Focusing on a social experience was more helpful for recovering from negative feelings than focusing on a self-experience. In conclusion, writing a compassionate letter to one's past-self can improve mood, especially in individuals with a negative time attitude who focus their writing on a social connection.

Individuals who see the good in the bad engage distinctive default network coordination during post-encoding rest

Focusing on the upside of negative events often promotes resilience. Yet, the underlying mechanisms that allow some people to spontaneously see the good in the bad remain unclear. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion has long suggested that positive affect, including positivity in the face of negative events, is linked to idiosyncratic thought patterns (i.e., atypical cognitive responses). Yet, evidence in support of this view has been limited, in part, due to difficulty in measuring idiosyncratic cognitive processes as they unfold. To overcome this barrier, we applied Inter-Subject Representational Similarity Analysis to test whether and how idiosyncratic neural responding supports positive reactions to negative experience. We found that idiosyncratic functional connectivity patterns in the brain's default network while resting after a negative experience predicts more positive descriptions of the event. This effect persisted when controlling for connectivity 1) before and during the negative experience, 2) before, during, and after a neutral experience, and 3) between other relevant brain regions (i.e., the limbic system). The relationship between idiosyncratic default network responding and positive affect was largely driven by functional connectivity patterns between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the rest of the default network and occurred relatively quickly during rest. We identified post-encoding rest as a key moment and the default network as a key brain system in which idiosyncratic responses correspond with seeing the good in the bad.

The integrative process promoted by EMDR in dissociative disorders: neurobiological mechanisms, psychometric tools, and intervention efficacy on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Dissociative disorders (DDs) are characterized by a discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, bodily representation, motor control, and action. The life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been identified as a potentially traumatic event and may produce a wide range of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, and DD, stemming from pandemic-related events, such as sickness, isolation, losing loved ones, and fear for one's life. In our conceptual analysis, we introduce the contribution of the structural dissociation of personality (SDP) theory and polyvagal theory to the conceptualization of the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered DD and the importance of assessing perceived safety in DD through neurophysiologically informed psychometric tools. In addition, we analyzed the contribution of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to the treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered DD and suggest possible neurobiological mechanisms of action of the EMDR. In particular, we propose that, through slow eye movements, the EMDR may promote an initial non-rapid-eye-movement sleep stage 1-like activity, a subsequent access to a slow-wave sleep activity, and an oxytocinergic neurotransmission that, in turn, may foster the functional coupling between paraventricular nucleus and both sympathetic and parasympathetic cardioinhibitory nuclei. Neurophysiologically informed psychometric tools for safety evaluation in DDs are discussed. Furthermore, clinical and public health implications are considered, combining the EMDR, SDP theory, and polyvagal conceptualizations in light of the potential dissociative symptomatology triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Peer facilitation of emotion regulation in adolescence

Emotion regulation is particularly important for adolescents as they undergo normative developmental changes in affective systems and experience heightened risk for psychopathology. Despite a high need for emotion regulation during adolescence, commonly studied emotion regulation strategies like cognitive reappraisal are less beneficial for adolescents than adults because they rely on neural regions that are still developing during this period (i.e., lateral prefrontal cortex). However, adolescence is also marked by increased valuation of peer relationships and sensitivity to social information and cues. In the present review, we synthesize research examining emotion regulation and peer influence across development to suggest that sensitivity to peers during adolescence could be leveraged to improve emotion regulation for this population. We first discuss developmental trends related to emotion regulation at the level of behavior and brain in adolescents, using cognitive reappraisal as an exemplar emotion regulation strategy. Next, we discuss social influences on adolescent brain development, describing caregiver influence and increasing susceptibility to peer influence, to describe how adolescent sensitivity to social inputs represents both a window of vulnerability and opportunity. Finally, we conclude by describing the promise of social (i.e., peer-based) interventions for enhancing emotion regulation in adolescence.

Critical tests of fuzzy trace theory in brain and behavior: uncertainty across time, probability, and development

Uncertainty permeates decisions from the trivial to the profound. Integrating brain and behavioral evidence, we discuss how probabilistic (varied outcomes) and temporal (delayed outcomes) uncertainty differ across age and individuals; how critical tests adjudicate between theories of uncertainty (prospect theory and fuzzy-trace theory); and how these mechanisms might be represented in the brain. The same categorical gist representations of gains and losses account for choices and eye-tracking data in both value-allocation (add money to gambles) and risky-choice tasks, disconfirming prospect theory and confirming predictions of fuzzy-trace theory. The analysis is extended to delay discounting and disambiguated choices, explaining hidden-zero effects that similarly turn on categorical distinctions between some gain and no gain, certain gain and uncertain gain, gain and loss, and now and later. Bold activation implicates dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices in gist strategies that are not just one tool in a grab-bag of cognitive options but rather are general strategies that systematically predict behaviors across many different tasks involving probabilistic and temporal uncertainty. High valuation (e.g., ventral striatum; ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and low executive control (e.g., lateral prefrontal cortex) contribute to risky and impatient choices, especially in youth. However, valuation in ventral striatum supports reward-maximizing and gist strategies in adulthood. Indeed, processing becomes less "rational" in the sense of maximizing gains and more noncompensatory (eye movements indicate fewer tradeoffs) as development progresses from adolescence to adulthood, as predicted. Implications for theoretically predicted "public-health paradoxes" are discussed, including gist versus verbatim thinking in drug experimentation and addiction.

Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Unconditional Self-Kindness Scale (USKS)

Western psychology and social sciences have long emphasized the value of a positive attitude toward oneself. Previous research had developed psychometric tools assessing self-compassion, defined as being open to and moved by one's own suffering. However, self-compassion did not describe whether people actually applied such protective factors when acutely faced with threats. The Unconditional Self-Kindness Scale (USKS) was developed as a tool to measure the behavioral response of self-kindness during an acute presence of threat to the self and not just as a general attitude when threat is absent. Since it can be experienced even in the most challenging situations and may promote resilience, this kindness may be defined as unconditional. We validated the Italian version of the USKS and found that the scale retained a one-factor structure. The USKS showed sound psychometric properties and good convergent validity since it was found to show very strong correlations with the Self-Compassion Scale-Short-Form and the Reassure Self subscale of the Forms of Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS). In addition, the USKS showed good discriminant validity since it was found to show a negative moderate correlation and a negative strong correlation with the HS subscale and with the IS subscale of the FSCRS, respectively. Finally, the USKS showed good test-retest reliability and its use is encouraged in clinical and research settings in which the assessment of a positive attitude toward oneself during an acute presence of threat to the self is of interest.

"Been there, done that:" A grounded theory of future caregiver preparedness in former caregivers of parents living with dementia

BACKGROUND

Family caregivers offer essential support to persons living with dementia (PLWD). Providing care for more than one family member or close other across adulthood is becoming increasingly common, yet little is known about the ways that caregiving experiences shape caregiver preparedness. The current study presents a grounded theory of future caregiver preparedness in former caregivers of PLWD.

METHOD

A coding team (five coders and two auditors) used Consensual Qualitative Research and grounded theory techniques to analyze transcripts from 32 semi-structured interviews with midlife former caregivers of parents who died following advanced Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

RESULTS

Qualitative analysis revealed two dimensions of future caregiver preparedness: caregiving confidence and caregiving insights. Narratives from caregiving experiences informed participants' descriptions of their future caregiver preparedness. Though some former caregivers described a positive (i.e., boosted or sustained) sense of caregiving confidence following care for their parents, others described a diminished (i.e., restricted or impeded) sense of confidence. Regardless of their confidence, all caregivers described specific caregiving insights related to one or more categories (i.e., caregiving self-conduct, care systems and resources, and relating with a care partner).

CONCLUSIONS

Preparedness for future caregiving following recent care for a PLWD varies: For some, past experiences appear to offer cumulative advantages in anticipating future care roles, whereas for others, past experiences may contribute to apprehension towards, or rejection of, future care roles. Entering new caregiving roles with diminished confidence may have negative consequences for caregivers' and care partners' wellbeing. Multidimensional assessment of future caregiver preparedness in former caregivers of PLWD may support development of resources for former caregivers entering new caregiving roles.

Perceived event resolution-rather than time-allows older adults to reduce the negativity of their memories

In addition to showing greater memory positivity soon after negative events, older adults can be more likely than younger adults to show decreases in memory negativity as events grow more distant. We recently showed that this latter effect was not present when adults were asked to rate memories of the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-May 2020): after a short (June/July 2020) and long delay (October/November 2020), older age was associated with greater reflections on positive aspects, but with no difference in negative aspects. We suggested that older adults did not show decreased negativity because the pandemic was still prevalent in their daily lives. The present study examines whether perceived event resolution-rather than time on its own-may be necessary to show age-related decreases in negativity by surveying participants during a time when many may have felt like the pandemic had resolved (Summer 2021). Once again, age was associated with increased ratings of the positive aspects, but at this timepoint, age was also associated with decreased ratings of the negative aspects. These results suggest that older adults may more successfully decrease the negativity of their memories compared to younger adults only when they feel that events have resolved.

The power of negative and positive episodic memories

The power of episodic memories is that they bring a past moment into the present, providing opportunities for us to recall details of the experiences, reframe or update the memory, and use the retrieved information to guide our decisions. In these regards, negative and positive memories can be especially powerful: Life’s highs and lows are disproportionately represented in memory, and when they are retrieved, they often impact our current mood and thoughts and influence various forms of behavior. Research rooted in neuroscience and cognitive psychology has historically focused on memory for negative emotional content. Yet the study of autobiographical memories has highlighted the importance of positive emotional memories, and more recently, cognitive neuroscience methods have begun to clarify why positive memories may show powerful relations to mental wellbeing. Here, we review the models that have been proposed to explain why emotional memories are long-lasting (durable) and likely to be retrieved (accessible), describing how in overlapping—but distinctly separable—ways, positive and negative memories can be easier to retrieve, and more likely to influence behavior. We end by identifying potential implications of this literature for broader topics related to mental wellbeing, education, and workplace environments.

Randomized Trial on the Effects of a Group EMDR Intervention on Narrative Complexity and Specificity of Autobiographical Memories: A Path Analytic and Supervised Machine-Learning Study

Narratives of autobiographical memories may be impaired by adverse childhood experiences, generating narrative fragmentation and increased levels of perceived distress. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) proved to be an effective treatment to overcome traumatic experiences and to promote coherent autobiographical narratives. However, the specific mechanisms by which EMDR promotes narrative coherence remains largely unknown. We conducted a randomized controlled pilot trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05319002) in a non-clinical sample of 27 children recruited in a primary school. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent a three-week group EMDR intervention. Subjective unit of distress (SUD), validity of cognition (VoC), classification of autobiographical memories, narrative complexity and specificity were assessed before and after the group EMDR intervention. The group EMDR intervention was able to improve SUD and VoC scales, narrative complexity and specificity, and promoted the classification of autobiographical memories as relational. The path analysis showed that SUD was able to predict VoC and narrative specificity, which, in turn, was able to predict both narrative complexity and the classification of autobiographical memories as relational. Machine-learning analysis showed that random tree classifier outperformed all other models by achieving a 93.33% accuracy. Clinical implications are discussed.

Clinical Manifestations of Body Memories: The Impact of Past Bodily Experiences on Mental Health

Bodily experiences such as the feeling of touch, pain or inner signals of the body are deeply emotional and activate brain networks that mediate their perception and higher-order processing. While the ad hoc perception of bodily signals and their influence on behavior is empirically well studied, there is a knowledge gap on how we store and retrieve bodily experiences that we perceived in the past, and how this influences our everyday life. Here, we explore the hypothesis that negative body memories, that is, negative bodily experiences of the past that are stored in memory and influence behavior, contribute to the development of somatic manifestations of mental health problems including somatic symptoms, traumatic re-experiences or dissociative symptoms. By combining knowledge from the areas of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuroscience with insights from psychotherapy, we identify Clinical Body Memory (CBM) mechanisms that specify how mental health problems could be driven by corporeal experiences stored in memory. The major argument is that the investigation of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie the storage and retrieval of body memories provides us with empirical access to reduce the negative impact of body memories on mental health.

The causal role of the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortices on emotion regulation of social feedback

The ventrolateral prefrontal cortices (VLPFC) are crucial regions involved in voluntary emotion regulation. However, the lateralization of the VLPFC in downregulating negative emotions remains unclear; and whether the causal role of the VLPFC is generalizable to upregulating positive emotions is unexplored. This study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to examine the causal relationship between the left/right VLPFC and social emotion reappraisal. One hundred and twenty participants were randomly assigned to either active (left and right VLPFC groups, n = 40/40) or sham (vertex, n = 40) TMS groups. Participants were instructed to passively receive social feedback or use reappraisal strategies to positively regulate their emotions. While the subjective emotional rating showed that the bilateral VLPFC facilitated the reappraisal success, the electrophysiological measure of the late positive potential (LPP) demonstrated a more critical role of the right VLPFC on social pain relief (decreased LPP amplitudes) and social reward magnification (enhanced LPP amplitudes). In addition, the influence of emotion regulation on social evaluation was found to be mediated by the memory of social feedback, indicating the importance of memory in social behavioral shaping. These findings suggest clinical protocols for the rehabilitation of emotion-regulatory function in patients with affective and social disorders.