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<p>The focus on how one is behaving, feeling, and thinking, provides a powerful source of self-knowledge. How is this self-knowledge utilized in the dynamic reconstruction of autobiographical memories? How, in turn, might autobiographical memories support identity and the self-system? I address these questions through a critical review of the literature on autobiographical memory and the self-system, with a special focus on the self-concept, self-knowledge, and identity. I then outline the methods and results of a prospective longitudinal study examining the effects of an identity change on memory for events related to that identity. Participant-rated memory characteristics, computer-generated ratings of narrative content and structure, and neutral-observer ratings of coherence were examined for changes over time related to an identity-change, as well as for their ability to predict an identity-change. The conclusions from this study are threefold: (1) when the rated centrality of an event decreases, the reported instances of retrieval, as well as the phenomenology associated with retrieval and the number of words used to describe the memory, also decrease; (2) memory accuracy (here, estimating past behaviors) was not influenced by an identity change; and (3) remembering is not unidirectional – characteristics of identity-relevant memories and the life story predict and may help support persistence with an identity (here, an academic trajectory).</p> / Dissertation

Objective: This study aimed to test predictions made by the self-memory system (SMS) model (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000), extensions of Williams et al.’s (2007) “capture and rumination” (CaR) mechanism (Debeer, Hermans, & Raes, 2009) and control theories of rumination (Martin & Tesser, 1996, 2006) in a non-clinical sample to further understand the processes underlying overgeneral memory (OGM). It was hypothesised that (i) ruminating on unresolved goals, compared to thinking about resolved goals, would increase OGM, in participants reporting high levels of trait brooding and (ii) that this effect would be greater following goal-cues that are derived from goal cues rated as (a) more important compared to those rated as less important; (b) more progress-discrepant compared to those rated as less progress-discrepant; (c) more relevant to unresolved goals compared to those that are rated as less relevant to unresolved goals. Method: A between-subjects factor of condition (resolved versus unresolved goal-focus induction) and a within-subjects factor of time (pre- and post-manipulation Minimal Instruction Autobiographical Memory Test [MI-AMT; Debeer et al., 2009]) design was utilised with 75 undergraduate and three masters psychology students (86.3 % female [n = 65]; age, M = 20.2 years, range = 18-43, SD = 4.9) from the University of Exeter. The MI-AMT was used to measure autobiographical memory (AM) specificity before and following a manipulation whereby participants were randomly assigned to either a control condition in which participants focussed on a resolved goal or an experimental condition which was designed to induce rumination about an unresolved (i.e., self-discrepant) goal. MI-AMT cues were adjectives relating to nomothetic goal-statements. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found neither an overall effect of condition nor an interaction between condition and brooding on AM specificity. Thus, induced rumination over unresolved goals did not lead to higher levels of OGM than induced focus on resolved goals amongst individuals high in trait brooding. Multilevel hierarchical regression found that the extent to which people high on brooding were less specific in the unresolved condition did not depend on the importance or progress-discrepancy ratings of the goal-statements from which the MI-AMT cues were developed, nor on the relevance of the goal-cues to the concern identified in the goal cueing task. Goal-cue relevance ratings showed a significant main effect on AM specificity qualified by an interaction with condition whereby participants reported decreasingly specific AMs in response to cues related to the concern after the resolved goal manipulation. Conclusion: These null findings suggest that rumination over unresolved goals may not increase OGM amongst non-clinical samples. A replication of this study should utilise state rumination checks to ensure that the goal cueing task successfully differentially induced state rumination between conditions. Further exploration of the role of reflection might elucidate which qualities of rumination are positively associated with OGM but not present in rumination about unresolved goals. Given that Williams et al.’s CaR mechanism was constructed to understand OGM in clinical depression, a replication of this study using a clinical sample may be a useful next step in testing predictions made by this theory.

The eleven short stories in this collection can be described as autobiographical fiction, combining true instances from the author’s life with fictional characters and events. The stories explore the themes of grief and loss, coming of age, and the importance of preserving the natural world. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Individuals' short- and long-term goals can influence the constructive nature of autobiographical memory recall. The overarching aim of this dissertation was to examine how emotion regulation goals in particular might modulate autobiographical recall at both a behavioral and neural level. In Chapter 1, a new behavioral task instructed individuals to cognitively reappraise the emotions associated with negative and positive events. Results revealed that such emotion regulation goals influence the emotional and other subjective experiences associated with recall, such that up-regulation instructions were linked to greater reported levels of emotional intensity, sensory detail, and recollection (e.g., reliving), and vice-versa for down-regulation instructions. In Chapter 2, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used as participants were instructed to decrease, increase, or maintain the emotions associated with negative autobiographical events. Decreasing emotional intensity primarily engaged neural activity in regions previously implicated in cognitive control (e.g., dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal cortex), emotion generation and processing (e.g., amygdala, insula), and visual imagery (e.g., precuneus) during an early phase of recall as participants searched for and retrieved events. In contrast, increasing emotional intensity engaged similar regions as individuals prepared to recall negative events (i.e., before a memory cue was presented) and again as they later elaborated upon the details of the events they had recalled. In Chapter 3, individual differences in habitual use of cognitive reappraisal were measured and their relation to neural activity during autobiographical recall was examined. Results revealed that, even when not explicitly instructed to reappraise, habitual use of reappraisal was broadly associated with neural activity in cognitive control regions (e.g., dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) as well as emotion processing regions (e.g., amygdala, insula) across memories that varied in their emotionality and specificity. Taken together, these results suggest that short- and long-term emotion regulation goals can influence the construction of autobiographical memories on both behavioral and neural levels. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

This thesis explores practices and experiences of using photography to support remembering. While the increasing use of photography is well documented, we have limited theoretical understanding of how we approach the taking, organising, and sharing of personal images in relation to memory, and of the opportunities and risks that are created through technological change. Two studies were conducted in which a total of 21 participants were interviewed in front of a sample of their photographs. Study 1 explored photography and remembering around a single, specific event: a wedding. Study 2 explored longer-term patterns of photographic and remembering activity across a range of contexts and events. The analysis showed that the ways that participants engaged with other people and technologies were significant in determining the kinds of photographs that were produced, and the engagement with those photos. Photographic practices were also heavily influenced by the situations in which they were performed and the beliefs and preferences of individuals. The existence of photographs could lead to thinking about particular aspects of the past, but the taking of photographs also altered the experience of what was being photographed. This could be seen as disruptive, depending on the participant’s beliefs about whether photography was a legitimate part of experience. When taking photos, participants pursued a mix of aesthetics, objectivity, and personal meaning, and perceptions of these qualities could influence the way that photographs were used in cueing recall. However, while most participants had produced large collections of photographs, there had been limited engagement with these and taking or having photographs could be more important than looking at them. The thesis concludes that there is value in redefining memory as a kind of activity that emerges through the performance of remembering and that is dependent on the tools used to support it and the situations in which it is performed. From this perspective, photography and autobiographical remembering are parts of the same wider activity, an inseparable blend of internal and external processes. As such, attempts to support our memories should consider both the features of technology and the experience of using it, as well as the ways that we work with tools and people when remembering.

Mental time travel (MTT) refers to an individual’s ability to mentally travel through subjective time, autonoetically re-experiencing past events under the form of autobiographical memories (past MTT), and pre-experiencing events as future autobiographical representations (future MTT). MTT can occur voluntarily, whereby a past/future autobiographical event is subjectively experienced as an intended occurrence, or involuntarily, wherein such an event is subjectively experienced as an unintended outcome of which the individual is aware. Studies investigating MTT’s characteristics in dysphoria and depression show that dysphoric and depressed individuals produce more overgeneral and negative MTT events when compared to control groups. However, existing research has been limited to past and voluntary MTT events, with few studies investigating involuntary MTT and future MTT in dysphoria and depression. The overarching aim of the present research was to compare the phenomenological characteristics of MTT in dysphoric individuals vs. normal mood individuals (Study 1), and in clinically depressed individuals vs. never-depressed individuals (Study 2), with the purpose of furthering existing knowledge on MTT and its relation with dysphoria and Major Depressive Disorder. This aim was addressed by conducting two studies, using a 2 x (2 x 2) mixed-factorial design, with temporality (past vs. future events) and type of retrieval (voluntary vs. involuntary events) as within-subjects independent variables, and participant group as a between-subjects variable. In Study 1, Portuguese university students were categorised into a dysphoric (n=17) or a normal mood group (n=39) depending on their score on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA) – cutoff point (≥ 10). In Study 2, clinically diagnosed depressed patients (n=32) were recruited from a Portuguese hospital and matched for age and gender with never-depressed control participants (n=32) recruited from the community. The dependent variables tested were: level of spatiotemporal specificity, self-relevance, mood and physical impact, valence, and visual perspective of the MTT events produced. A diary methodology was used in both studies, with an open-ended time period that lasted for a minimum of two weeks, for participants to record their MTT events and grade them on the above mentioned variables using Likert-type ratings. Between seven and fourteen MTT events were produced for each of the four MTT conditions (past voluntary, past involuntary, future voluntary, future involuntary). Results showed that when compared to their respective control groups, depressed, but not dysphoric participants, exhibited a clear influence of mood on several of the phenomenological characteristics of MTT. In Study 1 there were no statistically significant differences in the specificity, negative valence, and mood/physical impact of the MTT events produced by dysphoric and normal mood participants. On the contrary, in Study 2, results partially supported a lower specificity and fully supported a greater negativity and mood/physical impact of MTT events in depressed individuals compared with never-depressed participants. Both studies supported the greater self-relevance of voluntary MTT events and partially supported the hypothesised effect of type of retrieval in specificity. These were the first studies to directly compare past and future, voluntary and involuntary MTT events in dysphoric and depressed individuals, addressing existing gaps in the literature. The key limitation is the relatively small sample size of both studies, however each participant was comprehensively assessed for at least two weeks, providing a rich set of reliable data. Despite limitations, this thesis provides novel pilot findings that help understand the similarities and differences between involuntary and voluntary, past and future MTT, as well as providing new information regarding the possible role of MTT in dysphoria and depression.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of autobiographical memories to support the improvement of episodic memory (i.e., word recall) in patients with mild- stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Participants included 20 healthy young-old adults (M Age = 70.90; M MMSE = 28.70), 20 healthy old-old adults (M Age = 79.75; M MMSE = 28.05), and 15 patients with mild-stage AD or mixed dementia (M Age = 74.73; M MMSE = 22.47). Participants were presented with three lists of 30 words, each administered under a different support condition: (1) no cognitive support,(2) autobiographical memory support, and (3) semantic support. In the autobiographical memory support condition, participants associated each to-be- remembered word with a personal memory that was then shortened to a word cue for use in subsequent memory testing. In the semantic support condition, participants associated each to-be-remembered word with a one-word descriptor. Memory was assessed with three recall conditions: immediate free recall, cued recall, and recognition. It was expected that autobiographical memory cues would be more effective than general semantic cues in improving number of words recalled in patients with mild-stage AD and healthy older adults. The results indicated that healthy older adults and patients with mild- stage AD benefited from both forms of cognitive support. Although the young-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition across the three recall conditions, the differences were not significant. The old-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of immediate free recall. In contrast, the mild AD group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of cued recall and recognition. A limitation was the ceiling effect for recognition performance in the young- old and old-old group. Consistent with previous studies, the results indicate that patients with mild-stage AD can benefit from cognitive support to improve episodic memory if support is provided at encoding and retrieval. The results suggest that autobiographical memory cues may be effective for improving everyday memory performance in healthy older adults and patients with mild-stage AD. / Counselling Psychology

<p>Simply recalling a memory has very different consequences than retelling it. Accuracy is often emphasized when events are recalled; however, retelling an event in a conversational manner may compromise accuracy in order to make the story more entertaining (e.g., Dudukovic, Marsh, & Tversky, 2004), or to support a specific argument (e.g., Tversky & Marsh, 2000). I will focus on the memorial consequences and underlying mechanisms of retellings. </p><p>First, I will review research that shows the inaccuracies of retellings. In reviewing this research, I will identify possible underlying mechanisms that change memory through retellings, such as the following: schema-guided reconstruction, interference, transfer inappropriate processing, and retrieval-induced-forgetting. </p><p>Second, I will experimentally investigate possible cognitive mechanisms underlying these memorial changes. In the first experiment, I show that the elaborative nature of storytelling does not influence memory more so than simply selectively rehearsing that information. In the second and third experiments, I investigate how retelling autobiographical events influences qualitative aspects of memory. These two experiments suggest that retrieving autobiographical events influences memory quality, although the specific nature in which they are retold has no effect. I close by connecting these three experiments to the broader literature.</p> / Dissertation

The scientific study of wisdom is a contentious field. There is little agreement among dominant research programs concerning how to conceptualize and measure the elusive phenomenon of wisdom. The current study argues for a narrative analysis of this concept given that autobiographical stories offer a contextually rich vista into real-life manifestations of wisdom. Presented here is a qualitative investigation of autobiographical wisdom narratives from 8 individuals distributed across parameters of age, gender, and degree of wisdom. Results point to the possibility that relatively wise persons define wisdom more elaborately, participate in more sophisticated autobiographical reasoning processes, and engage with master narratives in a more evaluative and critical manner than relatively unwise individuals. These features did not appear to differ across levels of age and gender. This study validates a narrative approach to the science of wisdom, and suggests that stories may be central to advancing our understanding of this concept.