Specific autobiographical memory following hypnotically induced mood state (original) (raw)

Effect of temporary mood states on selective memory about the self

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982

This study examined the influence of depressed and elated mood on self-referential memory processes. By means of a hypnotic mood-induction procedure, subjects were made to experience a happy, sad, or neutral state. The study demonstrated that temporary depression caused decreased recall of positive life experiences, weaker memory strength for positive information about oneself, and a bias to recall false negative self-descriptions. Induced elation was associated with decreased recall of negative events and an increased recall of positive events. The results were considered to lend general support for Beck's notion that mood states are associated with distorted information processing about the self. General implications of the findings are discussed. Clinical investigations have increasingly focused on the relationship of cognitive factors to emotional disorders (Abramson, Se

Mood and memory

American Psychologist, 1981

This article describes experiments in which happy or sad moods were induced in subjects by hypnotic suggestion to investigate the influence of emotions on memory and thinking. One result was that subjects exhibited mood-state-dependent memory in recall of word lists, personal experiences recorded in a daily diary, and childhood experiences; people recalled a greater percentage of those experiences that were affectively congruent with the mood they were in during recall. Second, emotion powerfully influenced such cognitive processes as free associations, imaginative fantasies, social perceptions, and snap judgments about others' personalities (e.g., angry subjects generated angry associates, told hostile stories, and were prone to find fault with others). Third, when the feeling-tone of a narrative agreed with the reader's emotion, the salience and memorability of events in that narrative were increased. Thus, sad readers attended more to sad material, identified with a sad character from a story, and recalled more about that character. An associative network theory is proposed to account for these several results. In this theory, an emotion serves as a memory unit that can enter into associations with coincident events. Activation of this emotion unit aids retrieval of events associated with it; it also primes emotional themata for use in free association, fantasies, and perceptual categorization.

Phenomenological Characteristics of Autobiographical Memories: Responsiveness to an Induced Negative Mood State in Those With and Without a Previous History of Depression

Advances in cognitive psychology / University of Finance and Management in Warsaw, 2016

In this study we investigated the relative accessibility of phenomenological characteristics in autobiographical memories of 104 students with and without a previous history of a depression. Participants recalled personal events that were elicited with cue words and then asked to rate these personal events for a number of phenomenological characteristics. The characteristics were typicality, rumination, valence, importance of others, expectancy, desirability, and personal importance. The effects of previous history of depression (without history or with previous history of depression) and self-reported mood (pre- and post-negative mood induction) on autobiographical recall was examined by employing a mixed factor design. Self-reported mood was measured as a manipulation check, before and after Mood Induction Procedure. Typicality, rumination and personal importance showed significant interaction effects in those with a history of depression. Ordinal regression supported the finding ...

The characteristics of involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories in depressed and never depressed individuals

Consciousness and Cognition, 2012

This study compares involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memories in depressed and never depressed individuals. Twenty depressed and twenty never depressed individuals completed a memory diary; recording their reactions to 10 involuntary and 10 voluntary memories over 14-30 days. Psychiatric status (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, SCID-1), psychopathology, rumination and avoidance were assessed. For both groups, involuntary memories more frequently lead to strong reactions than voluntarily memories. For both modes of retrieval, depressed individuals reported more frequent negative reactions than never depressed individuals and rated memories as more central to identity with higher levels of rumination and avoidance. Depressed individuals retrieved both positive and negative memories during involuntary retrieval. These findings support the view that involuntary memory retrieval represents a basic mode of retrieval during healthy and disordered cognition, and that during depression, both involuntary and voluntary memories are central to identity and associated with rumination and avoidance.

Mood and retrieval‐induced forgetting of positive and negative autobiographical memories

Applied cognitive …, 2010

In two experiments, we examined the effects of high and low levels of dysphoria on retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) of positive and negative autobiographical memories. In Experiment 1, participants took part in an RIF procedure that was adapted for autobiographical memories. Regardless of level of dysphoria, participants showed facilitation for both negative and positive memories; they only showed RIF for negative memories. Differences in baseline memories were responsible for this effect: Participants recalled more positive than negative baseline memories. Experiment 2 was conducted to address these baseline differences, and also focused only on participants with high levels of dysphoria. Again, high dysphoric participants showed facilitation for both positive and negative memories; they only showed RIF for negative memories. Recall also varied depending on the content of practiced memories and individual differences in anxiety. Overall, these results suggest that retrievalpractice might have different outcomes for different kinds of autobiographical memories, that these outcomes may depend on individual memory biases and memory valence, and that practicing positive memories may assist mood repair.

Positive emotional induction interferes with the reconsolidation of negative autobiographical memories, in women only

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2018

After reactivation, a previously consolidated memory can enter into a labile state followed by a re-stabilization process defined as reconsolidation. The aim of this study was to explore whether an existing negative autobiographical memory can be modified by using a non-invasive interference (audiovisual positive preparation) after reactivation and to determine if this effect could be dependent on the reconsolidation process. We found that the presentation of a positive inductor after a negative autobiographical memory reactivation may lead to a change in the emotional information of the original trace and that such effect can be mediated by the reconsolidation process. The modification of the memory has been shown in women only. These results suggest that a positive audiovisual induction may play a potential role in psychotherapeutic techniques for the modification of dysfunctional autobiographical memories.

Autobiographical memory and major depressive states

European Psychiatry, 1991

SummaryThe Autoradiographical Memory Test elaborated by Williams and Scott (1988) consists of presenting positive and negative cue words to subjects, and asking them to retrieve specific personal memories in response to each cue in under 60 s. This method was applied to 20 subjects who met the DSM III criteria for Major Depressive Episode, and 20 volunteers paired for age (± 3 years), sex and instructional level. In general, our data confirm the results obtained by Williams and Scott (1988): the number of specific memories is significantly lower in depressive patients than in control subjects, especially in response to positive cues.

Involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory specificity as a function of depression

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2013

Background and objectives: This study tests the hypothesis derived from the CaR-FA-X model (Capture and Rumination, Functional Avoidance and Executive Function model, Williams et al., 2007), that depressed individuals will be less specific during voluntary than involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval and looks at the relative contributions of rumination, avoidance and executive function to memory specificity. Methods: Twenty depressed and twenty never depressed individuals completed a memory diary, recording 10 involuntary and 10 voluntary autobiographical memories. Psychiatric status (assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, SCID-1), psychopathology, rumination, avoidance and executive function were assessed prior to completion of the memory diary. Results: Both groups were more specific during involuntary than voluntary memory retrieval. No overall group differences were identified. However, when non-remitted depressed participants were compared to partially remitted and never depressed participants the expected interaction was identified; nonremitted depressed individuals were less specific during voluntary, but not during involuntary recall. Consistent with theory, negative correlations between memory specificity, rumination and avoidance were also present. Limitations: The study presents an important yet preliminary finding which warrants further replication with a larger sample size. Conclusions: The findings provide support for a number of models of autobiographical memory retrieval in particular the CaR-FA-X model of memory specificity.