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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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Bulteau S, Malo R, Holland Z, Laurin A, Sauvaget A. The update of self-identity: Importance of assessing autobiographical memory in major depressive disorder. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2023; 14:e1644. [PMID: 36746387 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder is a leading global cause of disability. There is a growing interest for memory in mood disorders since it might constitute an original tool for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. MDD is associated with impaired autobiographical memory characterized by a tendency to overgeneral memory, rather than vivid episodic self-defining memory, which is mandatory for problem-solving and projection in the future. This memory bias is maintained by three mechanisms: ruminations, avoidance, and impaired executive control. If we adopt a broader and comprehensive perspective, we can hypothesize that all those alterations have the potential to impair self-identity updating. We posit that this update requires a double referencing process: (1) to internalized self-representation and (2) to an externalized framework dealing with the representation of the consequence of actions. Diagnostic and therapeutic implications are discussed in the light of this model and the importance of assessing autobiographical memory in MDD is highlighted. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory Psychology > Brain Function and Dysfunction Neuroscience > Clinical.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Bulteau
- Department of Addictology and Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry unit, Clinical Investigation Unit 18, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France.,INSERM, MethodS in Patients-Centered Outcomes and HEalth Research, UMR 1246 SPHERE, Nantes Université, Nantes, France
| | - Roman Malo
- Clinical Psychology Department, Nantes University, Nantes, France
| | - Zoé Holland
- Department of Addictology and Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry unit, Clinical Investigation Unit 18, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Andrew Laurin
- Department of Addictology and Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry unit, Clinical Investigation Unit 18, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France.,CHU Nantes, Movement - Interactions - Performance, MIP, UR 4334, Nantes Université, Nantes, France
| | - Anne Sauvaget
- Department of Addictology and Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry unit, Clinical Investigation Unit 18, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France.,CHU Nantes, Movement - Interactions - Performance, MIP, UR 4334, Nantes Université, Nantes, France
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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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Masumoto K, Sato K, Harada K, Yamamoto K, Shiozaki M. Emotional valence of self-defining memories in older adults: A longitudinal study. Conscious Cogn 2022; 106:103431. [PMID: 36335808 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103431] [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: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the pleasantness bias and fading affect bias in self-defining memories (SDMs) and to examine the relationship between their emotional valence of SDMs and cognitive function and serotonin transporter polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR) with a prospective longitudinal method. Ninety-two older adults recalled SDMs twice at an interval of one year (T1 and T2). The results showed a pleasantness bias and a fading affect bias in SDMs. The higher the working memory was, the higher the vividness of SDMs and the higher the concordance rate of SDMs between T1 and T2. Meanwhile, cognitive performance had no effect on the emotional valence of SDMs. Additionally, the repeatedly recalled SDMs in the S/S allele carriers of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism changed with a lower negative valence at T2 than at T1. The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism may be a plasticity factor that predicts positive outcomes in positive situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouhei Masumoto
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan.
| | - Koji Sato
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan.
| | - Kazuhiro Harada
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan.
| | - Kenta Yamamoto
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan.
| | - Mariko Shiozaki
- Department of Applied Sociology, Kindai University, 3-4-1, Kowakae, Higashiosaka, Osaka 577-8502 Japan.
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Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, Terracciano A. Sense of purpose in life, cognitive function, and the phenomenology of autobiographical memory. Memory 2021; 29:1126-1135. [PMID: 34460357 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1966472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
There are individual differences in the phenomenological re-experiencing of autobiographical memories. We examine whether sense of purpose in life and cognitive function are associated with the phenomenology of a recent memory related to the coronavirus pandemic. Participants reported on their sense purpose and completed tasks that measured processing speed and visuospatial ability before the pandemic in January-February 2020 and subsequently retrieved and rated a memory related to the pandemic in July 2020 (N=796; Mage=58.05, SD=14.14, range 19-85). Participants with a greater sense of purpose reported memories that were more phenomenologically rich (e.g., more vivid, coherent, accessible), whereas cognitive function was primarily related to greater perceived accessibility of the memory but not to most other aspects of phenomenology. The pattern of associations was similar when accounting for depressive symptoms, and none of the associations was moderated by age. The present research suggests that individuals with a higher sense of purpose in life have autobiographical memories with richer phenomenology. To the extent that memories function to sustain well-being, social connections, and cognitive health, rich phenomenology may be one pathway through which purpose leads to these better outcomes.
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Gallouj K, Altintas E, El Haj M. Memories of Falls: Resolved or Unresolved Memories? Exp Aging Res 2021; 48:58-67. [PMID: 33993854 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2021.1926829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Background: There is bourgeoning interest in how older adults remember their falls and research in this area has demonstrated how falls can reshape memory retrieval in older adults. We pursued this line of research by assessing whether older adults succeed in integrating memories of falls into their life story.Methods: We invited older adults to remember their falls and analyzed whether these memories were integrated or non-integrated.Results: Analysis demonstrated no significant differences between the number of integrated and non-integrated memories. Critically, however, higher anxiety and depression was observed in participants who produced non-integrated memories than in those who produced integrated ones.Discussion: The ability to integrate memories of falls in older adults is likely associated with anxiety and depression. Anxiety may result in avoidance of processing of the meaning of falls, and depression may hamper the ability to extract meaning from them, resulting in difficulties for older adults to integrate falls into their life story. Non-integrated memories of falls in older adults may be seen as unresolved memories and deserve special clinical attention.
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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.,Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Laboratoire De Psychologie Des Pays De La Loire, Nantes, France.,Institut Universitaire De France, Paris, France
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Lee OE, Conner L, Davis B. Narrative Gerontology in Practice: Students' Experiences With Conducting Autoethnography. Int J Aging Hum Dev 2020; 91:421-434. [PMID: 32450713 DOI: 10.1177/0091415020926842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
This study examines the benefits of introducing autoethnographic writing as part of an ageism intervention to familiarize students with the life course. In this mixed-methods study, 186 graduate and undergraduate students conducted interviews with a grandparent or older adult and subsequently assumed the identity of the grandparent to write introductions of themselves as if they were that grandparent, using "I" statements in an online discussion forum. Most assumed grandparents were women (78.0%), and White (63.8%) with an average age of 77.3 (SD = 12.3). Emerging themes were categorized into three levels: structural, familial, and individual. The number of times a certain theme was mentioned was counted and major themes were analyzed. Findings indicated how autoethnographic reflections can promote student examination of self-awareness, cultural heritages, and personal growth. This technique is encouraging as an educational ageism intervention and warrants further adaptation and testing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Othelia E Lee
- 14727 School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
| | - Laneshia Conner
- 5164 School of Social Work, Spalding University, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Boyd Davis
- 14727 School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
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