Autobiographical Memory

Autobiographical Memory

1. Experimental Methods

   • Diary Studies
     • Wagnaar (1986) - 2 events every day, 5 years  - Cues (what, who, where, when) - Rated frequency, salience, emotional intensity, pleasantness - Tested memory from cues  Saliency - More salient = greater recall - Recent and remote events Emotional Involvement - More emotionally involving = greater recall - Recent and remote events
   • Galton Cuing Technique
     • Robinson (1976) - Recall response - Fast to recall from Action and Object words, than Emotional word cues - AM not accessed by emotion - Organised/accessed through Action/Objects --> faster recall
   • Personalised Experimental Materials
     • Conway & Bekerian (1987) - Personal memory questionnaire - Identify retrieval cues (life periods/general events) - Create materials - Effectiveness of different cues
   • Priming
     • Exposure to one stimulus --> fast response in second stimulus - faster access to associated information - Faster to recall prime than no prime - Lifetime period - Primed retrieval in response to general event - No priming effect when semantic categories/primes are used  - e.g. flower (prime), daisy (cue)

2. Model of AM

   • Explains how we recall a specific memory of a specific event + ESK (event specific knowledge)
   • Lifetime Period
     • General event
       • Specific Memory
         • ESK
   • Self Identity
     • Highlights relevance of personal information - Oneself engaging in event

3. Development of AM

   • Lifespan AM retrieval
     • Generate AMs - Galton Word Cues --> date the memories - Plot on graph Recency effect - recall more things from recent years
     • Childhood Amnesia
       • - Adults remember few things from before 3-5 years - Development of self concept --> emergence of AM - Often events spoken about a lot or seen photos/videos
       • 2-3 yrs - Can recall some specific events -- not detailed unless very salient 2 yrs - Could recall play events from 6m earlier (when 10m) (Sheffield & Hudson, 94) - Could recall specific miming movements they did 13m earlier (when 11m) (McDonagh & Mandler, 94) 4 yrs - Recalled salient event from 2.5 yrs (Fivush & Hammond, 1990)
       • Wheeler, Struss & Tulving (1997)
         • 25-32 m - recall specific events from 12m ago - Factual info - No conscious recollection - Therefore not AM
         • Development of self concept/awareness --> 2-3 yrs - Cannot reflect upon selves and past experiences - Self concept emerges 18-24m Sufficiently developed - 3yrs
         • Physical Self - 3m: discriminate own facial features from others - 18m: respond to smudge on face in mirror, embarrassed by own image - 22-24m: say name when see mirror image
         • Psychological self - Recognise exist over time - Other things happen outside immediate existence - 4-5 yrs (but not 3 yo) --> show delayed recognition of their past self Povinelli & Simon (1998) 3, 4, 5 y/o - Placing sticker on head while filming playing - 3 yrs - fewer than 50% reached for sticker (in immediate and delayed) - Most 4/5 yrs - reached for sticker when watching current session, but not past session --> could distinguish between sessions - 4/5 yrs have developing sense of self that extends over time (mental time travel) 
         • Self concept = Physical self (self-recognition) Psychological self (temporally-extended self that exists over time)
     • Reminiscence Bump
       • - 15-30yrs - Remember more from this period - Due to nostalgia about our 'generation' from teens/early 20s (Sehulster, 1996) - Or development of stable self (Conway, 2005) - Observed across cultures- Robust finding
     • Older Age
       • Older adults (60+) - Produce fewer specific details but more generic (schematic) info during AM retrieval, than younger adults (Ford, 2014) - Age related decline in specificity associated with increased likelihood of depression (Ramirez 2014) and reduced wellbeing/satisfaction (Latorre 2013) - Recent study showed small decline - young and older adults recalled large specific detail (Aizpurua & Koutstall, 2015)
       • Rathbone (2015)
         • More positive semantic self-image (traits, roles, beliefs) = greater sense of wellbeing - Particularly for older adults
     • Lifespan Study Abram (2014)
       • 6 - 81 yr olds - Older adults recalled fewer specific (episodic) details, more semantic/conceptual information (traits, preferences, general info about places etc.)
   • Self concept
     • Without self-concept, specific memories are episodic (tied to space and time) but not autobiographical (linked to the self)
     • Autonoetic
       • Autonoetic consciousness - experience of oneself engaging in event - understanding self exists over time Wheeler - Childhood amnesia = unable to mentally travel back in time to recollect personally experienced events - because not really personally experienced
     • Self --> cognitive system
       • Retrieval cycle
         • Elaborate a cue Search autobiographical knowledge base Evaluate output Termination or re-cycle (if cannot retrieve - go back into cycle)
         • Conway (2004/5)
           • - Retrieval controlled by SS and CE, which contains model of current working self - Working self can create temporary model of task demands/restraints --> specific memory relevant to specific cue that provides ESK
           • Working self = subset of WM control processes (CE/SS)  - dynamic 'on-line' concept of self that reflects current goals and priorities --> current goal is most active goal - Encoding and retrieving personal events is influenced by the goal structure of the current working self - Specific AMs are records of successes or failures in goal attainment 

4. Imagery

   • Autonoetic consciousness - sense of 're-living' past experience - Not just knowing it occurred but remembering - Relies on specific sensory-perceptual data --> visual imagery is an important source
   • Retrograde Amnesia
     • Can re-learn past through being told (know they happened) but cannot remember
   • Strong sense of re-living
     • Strong sense of re-living - associated with vivid visual imagery - Also more likely to believe event actually happened if strong visual imagery (Cabeza, 2007)
     • Greenburg & Knowlton (2014)
       • Visual imagery associated with feelings of re-living AM - Auditory imagery greater than visual imagery - Participants who reported total lack of visual imagery, also lacked auditory imagery --> Less likely to feel sense of re-living AMs
   • Self & Visual Imagery
     • Observer Perspective
       • Imagining/seeing past event - observing self as a spectator
     • Field Perspective
       • Imagining/seeing event from own eyes
     • McIssac & Eich (2004)
       • Study of people with PTSD - Most recalled from Field (64%) - More emotional and anxiety provoking than Observer - High rich detail in both, maintain image - frequency with which event was recalled - Field = feelings and internal states - Observer = External features of situation --> provides relief from distress but may impact recovery
     • (Nigro & Neisser, 1983)
       • Recall specific AM memory in response to cues - 51% - Field - 37% - Observer (12% neither) Field - Occurred more recently (15m vs. 35m) Field more vivid, focus on feelings (not high emotion) Field lessens when focus on concrete objective details  Observer - higher emotional intensity and self-aware
     • Cabeza & St Jacques (2007)
       • PET & fMRI - PFC implicated in AM - Left lateral PFC - search and retrieval - vmPFC - monitoring - medical PFC - self
       • Photos taken by self/other - activated episodic memory network = medial temporal and PFC - AM = self referential processing (medial PFC), visual/spatial memory (visual and parahippocampal regions), recollection (hippocampus)

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