Impact of depressive symptoms, self-esteem and neuroticism on trajectories of overgeneral autobiographical memory over repeated trials

Autobiographical memory disturbance in depression

It is found that overgeneral Autobiographic Memory (AM) disturbance is related to affective disorder such as depression. This article reviewed the conception and mechanism of overgeneral AM, which including Affection Regulation, Functional Avoidance, Capture & Rumination, Impaired Executive Control and the CaR-FA-X model. The relationship between depression and overgeneral AM is also reviewed, in both adult and adolescent patients, overgeneral AM is a risk factor of depressive disorder and AM deficits might be trait-like in depressive patients.

The effect of dysphoria on the relationship between autobiographical memories and the self

Two experiments investigated the bi-directional relationship between episodic autobiographical memories (ABMs) and semantic self-images in dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals. Participants in Experiment 1 generated positive and negative "I am" statements, which were then used to cue specific ABMs. Nondysphoric participants generated similar numbers of ABMs to positive and negative cues, suggesting both positive and negative self-images are supported by clusters of specific ABMs. The same was observed in dysphoric participants, but phenomenological ratings showed that they rated positive ABMs as less vivid, and negative ABMs more central to their life story, than the nondysphoric group. Participants in Experiment 2 retrieved positive or negative ABMs and then generated "I am" self-statements. Retrieving positive ABMs increased the positivity of self-statements in the nondysphoric but not the dysphoric group. These findings suggest the interaction between ABMs and self-images functions to promote a positive view of the self, but this is disrupted in dysphoria.

Impostor Phenomenon and Psychological Well-Being: The Moderating Roles of John Henryism and School Racial Composition Among Black College Students

The impostor phenomenon (IP), or erroneous cognitions of intellectual incompetence, is a risk factor for poor psychological adjustment among Black emerging adults. Grounded in Lazarus and Folkman's Stress and Coping Framework, the current study investigated John Henryism's active coping and institutional racial composition as moderators of the association between IP and indicators of psychological well-being among 266 Black students (77% women; M _age = 19.87) attending predominately White institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs). Hierarchical moderation regression analyses revealed that IP was associated with decreases in well-being indicators among students attending PWIs and HBCUs. Moreover, students who attended PWIs and reported higher levels of John Henryism (+1 SD) were most vulnerable to increases in social anxiety, particularly at higher levels of IP. Results suggest that the interaction between IP, John Henrysim, and institutional racial composition may negatively influence psychological well-being. We discuss how these findings can be used to inform clinical and educational practices to best support Black college students.

Earthquake Trauma, Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory, and Depression Among Adolescent Survivors of the Wenchuan Earthquake

Trauma has a profound impact on overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM), which is a risk factor for depression. Violent earthquakes can cause tremendous trauma in survivors. We examined the relationship between earthquake trauma, OGM and depression in adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake in this study. OGM was assessed using the autobiographical memory test in a sample of adolescent participants who experienced the violent earthquakes in Wenchuan, China, in 2008 and control participants who had never experienced a destructive earthquake. Depression was measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II in all participants. The results showed that compared with the adolescents with no earthquake trauma, the adolescents with earthquake trauma reported significantly more depression (d = 0.49) and overgeneral autobiographical memories (d = 0.55). Moreover, when they experienced earthquake trauma, the adolescents with low OGM did not experience more depression, but the adolescents with average and high OGM experienced more depression than the adolescents with no earthquake trauma. This finding indicated that in a non-Western cultural context, adolescents' propensity toward OGM made them vulnerable to depression after experiencing an earthquake trauma.

Retrieval process of overgeneral memory and the capture and executive control hypothesis: using Autobiographical Memory Test with thought sampling

The retrieval process for underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory remains unclear. In this study, we identified what leads to self-referential and categoric thoughts and examined the influence error-monitoring ability has on the reporting of categoric memories. We also examined whether cue self-relevance and/or executive control task performance are related to the number of specific memories reported. Using thought sampling, 94 college students completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, as well as a verbal fluency task and a depression scale. The results indicated that depressive symptoms and negative highly self-relevant cues were associated with self-referential/categoric thoughts during memory retrieval. Further, preceding self-referential/categoric thoughts and low error-monitoring ability predicted immediate after-reporting of categoric memories. Simultaneously, highly self-relevant cues and executive control task performance predicted the reporting of many specific memories. Subdividing the retrieval process and examining the process involved in depression are essential.

Current psychometric and methodological issues in the measurement of overgeneral autobiographical memory

Autobiographical memory is a multifaceted construct that is related to psychopathology and other difficulties in functioning. Across many studies, a variety of methods have been used to study autobiographical memory. The relationship between overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) and psychopathology has been of particular interest, and many studies of this cognitive phenomenon rely on the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to assess it. In this paper, we examine several methodological approaches to studying autobiographical memory, and focus primarily on methodological and psychometric considerations in OGM research. We pay particular attention to what is known about the reliability, validity, and methodological variations of the AMT. The AMT has adequate psychometric properties, but there is great variability in methodology across studies that use it. Methodological recommendations and suggestions for future studies are presented.

[Overgeneral autobiographical memory in depressive disorders]

This article aims to review studies focusing on the relationship between overgeneral autobiographical memory and depressive disorders. Such characteristic has attracted attention because of its relationship with a poor ability to solve problems and to imagine the future, as well as with the maintenance and a poor prognosis of depression. Data were collected through a systematic search on LILACS, SciELO, MEDLINE, and IBECS databases, and also on the health sciences records of Portal de Periódicos da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), a Brazilian journal database, focusing on articles published between 2000 and 2010. The following keywords were used: memória autobiográfica, supergeneralização da memória autobiográfica, and memória autobiográfica e depressão in Portuguese; and autobiographical memory, overgeneral autobiographical memory, and autobiographical memory and depression in English. Following application of exclusion criteria, a total of 27 studies were reviewed. Overgeneral autobiographical memory has been investigated in several depressive disorders. However, further longitudinal studies are required to confirm the relevant role of this cognitive characteristic in anamnesis and in the treatment of mood disorders.

Pre-Stressor Interference Control and Intrusive Memories

Although intrusive imagery is a common response in the aftermath of a stressful or traumatic event, only a minority of trauma victims show persistent re-experiencing and related psychopathology. Individual differences in pre-trauma executive control possibly play a critical role. Therefore, this study investigated whether a relatively poor pre-stressor ability to resist proactive interference in working memory might increase risk for experiencing undesirable intrusive memories after being exposed to a stressful event. Non-clinical participants (N = 85) completed a modified version of a widely used test of interference control in working memory (CVLT; Kramer and Delis 1991) and subsequently watched an emotional film fragment. Following presentation of the fragment, intrusive memories were recorded in a 1-week diary and at a follow up session 7 days later. A relatively poor ability to resist proactive interference was related to a relatively high frequency of film-related intrusive memories. This relationship was independent of neuroticism and gender. These findings are consistent with the idea that a pre-morbid deficit in the ability to resist proactive interference reflects a vulnerability factor for experiencing intrusive memories after trauma exposure.

Overgeneral autobiographical memory as a predictor of the course of depression: a meta-analysis

Overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) is a robust phenomenon in depression, but the extent to which OGM predicts the course of depression is not well-established. This meta-analysis synthesized data from 15 studies to examine the degree to which OGM 1) correlates with depressive symptoms at follow-up, and 2) predicts depressive symptoms at follow-up over and above initial depressive symptoms. Although the effects are small, specific and categoric/overgeneral memories generated during the Autobiographical Memory Test significantly predicted the course of depression. Fewer specific memories and more categoric/overgeneral memories were associated with higher follow-up depressive symptoms, and predicted higher follow-up symptoms over and above initial symptoms. Potential moderators were also examined. The age and clinical depression status of participants, as well as the length of follow-up between the two depressive symptom assessments, significantly moderated the predictive relationship between OGM and the course of depression. The predictive relationship between specific memories and follow-up depressive symptoms became greater with increasing age and a shorter length of follow-up, and the predictive relationship was stronger for participants with clinical depression diagnoses than for nonclinical participants. These findings highlight OGM as a predictor of the course of depression, and future studies should investigate the mechanisms underlying this relationship.

Cue self-relevance affects autobiographical memory specificity in individuals with a history of major depression

Previously depressed and never-depressed individuals identified personal characteristics (self-guides) defining their ideal, ought, and feared selves. One week later they completed the autobiographical memory test (AMT). For each participant the number of AMT cues that reflected self-guide content was determined to produce an index of AMT cue self-relevance. Individuals who had never been depressed showed no significant relationship between cue self-relevance and specificity. In contrast, in previously depressed participants there was a highly significant negative correlation between cue self-relevance and specificity—the greater the number of AMT cues that reflected self-guide content, the fewer specific memories participants recalled. It is suggested that in individuals with a history of depression, cues reflecting self-guide content are more likely to prompt a shift to processing of information within the long-term self (Conway, Singer, & Tagini, 2004), increasing the likelihood that self-related semantic information will be provided in response to cues on the autobiographical memory test.

Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder

The authors review research showing that when recalling autobiographical events, many emotionally disturbed patients summarize categories of events rather than retrieving a single episode. The mechanisms underlying such overgeneral memory are examined, with a focus on M. A. Conway and C. W. Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) hierarchical search model of personal event retrieval. An elaboration of this model is proposed to account for overgeneral memory, focusing on how memory search can be affected by (a) capture and rumination processes, when mnemonic information used in retrieval activates ruminative thinking; (b) functional avoidance, when episodic material threatens to cause affective disturbance; and (c) impairment in executive capacity and control that limits an individual's ability to remain focused on retrieval in the face of distraction.