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We apply an autobiographical memory framework to the study of regret. Focusing on the distinction between regrets for specific and general events we argue that the temporal profile of regret, usually explained in terms of the... more

We apply an autobiographical memory framework to the study of regret. Focusing on the distinction between regrets for specific and general events we argue that the temporal profile of regret, usually explained in terms of the action-inaction distinction, is predicted by models of autobiographical memory. In two studies involving participants in their sixties we demonstrate a reminiscence bump for general, but not for specific regrets. Recent regrets were more likely to be specific than general in nature. Coding regrets as actions/inactions revealed that general regrets were significantly more likely to be due to inaction while specific regrets were as likely to be due to action as to inaction. In Study 2 we also generalised all of these findings to a group of participants in their 40s. We re-interpret existing accounts of the temporal profile of regret within the autobiographical memory framework, and outline the practical and theoretical advantages of our memory-based distinction over traditional decision-making approaches to the study of regret.

In this essay, I attempt to outline a feminist philosophical approach to the debate concerning (allegedly) false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Bringing the voices of feminist philosophers to bear on this issue highlights the... more

In this essay, I attempt to outline a feminist philosophical approach to the debate concerning (allegedly) false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Bringing the voices of feminist philosophers to bear on this issue highlights the implicit and sometimes questionable epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical-political commitments of some therapists and scientists involved in these debates. It also illuminates some current debates in and about feminist philosophy.

In this article, we propose the term identity narrative (IdN) to define an implicit emotional and cognitive framework that serves as an unconscious scaffolding for the gradual development of autobiographical memory. We distinguish... more

In this article, we propose the term identity narrative (IdN) to define an implicit emotional and cognitive framework that serves as an unconscious scaffolding for the gradual development of autobiographical memory. We distinguish preverbal IdN from narrative identity, a term previously used in the philosophical literature. Unlike narrative identity, which refers to conscious lifescripts, IdN is unconscious and constitutes a contemporary neuropsychological conceptualization of the unconscious. Within autobiographical memory, IdN has a stabilizing function providing individual predictability and, hence, social stability. IdN begins prior to language acquisition and has an evolutionary significance. It is consolidated by neurohormonal mechanisms, influences and is influenced by attachment, and moldsthemannerinwhichautobiographicalmemoryisrecalled.Itparticipates in the emergence of self and identity. IdN is reshaped throughout life by both bottom-up (implicit “predictive cycle” paradigm) and top-down acquisitions that include paradigm shift/sudden new insights, experiences with high emotional valence, repetition and practicing, and prolonged exposure. In this way, IdN, autobiographical memory, and the language brain are parts of a larger biological substrate of human social affiliations.

This conversation takes place in Warsaw. Carolyn Ellis has come to Poland to accompany Jerry Rawicki, a Warsaw Ghetto survivor, on his first trip back to Poland since the Holocaust. There she arranged to meet Marcin Kafar, a scholar in... more

This conversation takes place in Warsaw. Carolyn Ellis has come to Poland to accompany Jerry Rawicki, a Warsaw Ghetto survivor, on his first trip back to Poland since the Holocaust. There she arranged to meet Marcin Kafar, a scholar in Poland who has spent time with her at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. During this visit, Marcin assists Carolyn with video recording Jerry’s experiences as they visit Holocaust sites, and Jerry remembers and reflects on his experience. Afterwards, Marcin converses with Carolyn about autoethnography, storytelling, and the importance of life in the context of searching for ethos by academics.

Despite the popularity that the embodied cognition thesis has gained in recent years, explicit memories of events personally experienced are still conceived as disembodied mental representations. It seems that we can consciously remember... more

Despite the popularity that the embodied cognition thesis has gained in recent years, explicit memories of events personally experienced are still conceived as disembodied mental representations. It seems that we can consciously remember our personal past through sensory imagery, through concepts, propositions and language, but not through the body. In this article, I defend the idea that the body constitutes a genuine means of representing past personal experiences. For this purpose, I focus on the analysis of bodily movements associated with the retrieval of a personal memory, which have certain features that make them different from procedural memories, pragmatic actions and common gestures, as well as other forms of embodied memories found in recent literature. I refer to these as “kinetic memories” and analyse their representative nature as well as their adaptive functions. Kinetic memories are bodily movements in which some event or action that took place in the past can be seen, because they are an externalisation of the subject’s inner intention of representing a past personal experience. Kinetic memories represent a past experience sometimes by imitation of a past movement, and other times through embodied symbols and metaphors. Furthermore, although sometimes they present direct pragmatic benefits, such as communicative benefits, they seem to enhance the whole reexperience of the past event and memory recall, which I argue is one important adaptive value.

Transitional justice is a major concept in promoting peace and reconciliation between conflicting parties. It is usually associated with formal judicial processes such as criminal justice, rule-of law reform and paying reparations. This... more

Transitional justice is a major concept in promoting peace and reconciliation between conflicting parties. It is usually associated with formal judicial processes such as criminal justice, rule-of law reform and paying reparations. This chapter focuses on another transitional justice method, a more informal one: memory work. There is a growing realization of the major impact on the way in which the history of a conflict is viewed by the members of parties involved on their psychological and behavioral reactions. Addressing that history properly can promote their well being, conflict resolution and reconciliation between the parties. There are many ways of addressing the relevant history, for example, through truth and reconciliation committees, the rewriting of history textbooks, and commemoration projects. This chapter focuses on another way: the role of the autobiographical memory, that of the people who experienced the conflict directly, as it is manifested in their memoirs, newspaper articles and interviews with scholars. To this end the chapter uses a case study approach, regarding the causes for the main historical event of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the 1948 Palestinian exodus. It explores for the first time the way in which Israeli-Jewish 1948 war veterans presented these causes between 1949 and 2004. The question posed was: did their autobiographical memory present a Zionist narrative (willing flight of the Palestinians) or a critical/post-Zionist narrative (willing flight combined with expulsion)? This exploration is based on an analysis of all published war veterans' memoirs and newspaper articles, as well as interviews with scholars, in the 56 year research period. During this study, interviews were also conducted with 1948 war veterans. Following the description of the empirical findings regarding the Israeli-Jewish autobiographical memory of the exodus, these findings are used to theoretically conceptualize various phenomena. For example, what determines the way in which direct-experience people describe their experiences during a conflict, how these people influence directly and indirectly the collective memory of their society of a given conflict, and the way in which they influence the dynamics of

People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication... more

People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement:

The relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM) in high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger syndrome (AS) has never been investigated. Here, we show that ToM abilities could be predicted by levels of AM in... more

The relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM) in high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger syndrome (AS) has never been investigated. Here, we show that ToM abilities could be predicted by levels of AM in HFA and AS as compared to controls, suggesting that difficulties in AM are closely related to ToM impairments in HFA and AS.

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... more

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.

The relationship between culture and autobiographical memory has become an important research topic since research over the past three decades has shown (cross)-cultural variations in the content and style of autobiographical memories... more

The relationship between culture and autobiographical memory has become an important research topic since research over the past three decades has shown (cross)-cultural variations in the content and style of autobiographical memories that are related to differences in how people from diverse cultures describe themselves and others. However, most research has compared North-American to Asian cultures, leaving a need to address the relationship in others. Our study examines differences in characteristics of autobiographical memory in three countries: Mexico, Spain and Denmark, using Qi Wang's methodology and categories of analysis. College students from these three countries were asked to describe their earliest memory. Results confirm the expected differences, with Danish and Spanish participants' earliest memories dating significantly earlier than that of the Mexican participants. At the same time, Danish participants were less likely to spontaneously mention emotions and feeling states in their earliest memories. On the other hand, Mexicans demonstrated a higher level of autonomous orientation than the participants in the other two groups. Gender was found to interact with several indicators, and even displayed a cross-over effect in emotion. The findings are interpreted as supporting the view of cultured self-construals, while also suggesting the need for more attention to the situated character of cultural differences.

The present study examined adolescents' interpretation and memory for stimuli inside and outside autobiographical memory in relation to high and low levels of Subjective (SWB) and Psychological Well-Being (PWB). Participants (69 high... more

The present study examined adolescents' interpretation and memory for stimuli inside and outside autobiographical memory in relation to high and low levels of Subjective (SWB) and Psychological Well-Being (PWB). Participants (69 high school pupils), identified as being either the 5 % upper or the 5 % lower scorers from 687 pupils who selfreported SWB and PWB, were asked to recall and list the most positive and negative life events during the past year. Words in a short story were used to assess events outside autobiographical memory. The high well-being groups remembered more positive than negative life events. Conversely to the other groups, the high PWB group interpreted positive and negative life events equally and had no preference for recognition of positive words. The number of words rated as positive predicted false recognition of positive words among the high well-being groups. Thus, suggesting important cognitive differences and similarities related to SWB and PWB.

Objective: Previous research has shown that individuals suffering from depression and other emotional disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder and delusional disorder have difficulties being specific in autobiographical memory. The... more

Objective: Previous research has shown that individuals suffering from depression and other emotional disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder and delusional disorder have difficulties being specific in autobiographical memory. The aim of this study was to investigate autobiographical memories in patients treated for bulimia nervosa. Method: A sample of 18 women recently treated for bulimia nervosa were tested using the Autobiographical Memory Test. Results: Results showed that bulimic patients had difficulty retrieving specific memories, and retrieved an excess of categoric memories. Bulimic patients also had longer response latencies to both positive and negative cue words than a control group of 18 matched women without any history of eating disorder. There was little relation between severity of depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and specificity in autobiographical memory. Discussion: Findings suggest that persistent memory biases could be worth considering in the treatment of bulimic patients.

Autobiographical memories are often shared in conversation, raising the possibility that the people with whom we converse influence how and what we recall. This factor is especially apparent in married couples, who develop consistent... more

Autobiographical memories are often shared in conversation, raising the possibility that the people with whom we converse influence how and what we recall. This factor is especially apparent in married couples, who develop consistent patterns of dialogue over many years of shared conversation. In the current study, long-married couples described their wedding day in the presence of a researcher. Each spouse reported the event once on their own to the researcher and both recalled the event together in a separate condition. Narratives were coded for internal and external details, and comparisons were made on the basis of spouse’s gender and the condition of recall (alone or together). Results examine how gendered patterns of remembering change in joint recall, and explore how behaviors of the husband and wife in conversation predict the amount and types of detail recalled. Results are considered in light of theories of co-construction of self and memory.

During adolescence, rates of depression dramatically increase and girls become twice as likely as boys to develop depression. Research suggests that overgeneral autobiographical memory and rumination are vulnerability factors for... more

During adolescence, rates of depression dramatically increase and girls become twice as likely as boys to develop depression. Research suggests that overgeneral autobiographical memory and rumination are vulnerability factors for depressive symptoms in adolescence that may be triggered by stressful life events. The current longitudinal study included 160 early adolescents (M age = 12.44 years, 60.0 % African American, 40.0 % Caucasian, and 56.2 % female). At baseline, adolescents completed measures of current depressive symptoms, rumination, and specificity of autobiographical memories. Approximately 9 months later, the adolescents completed measures of current depressive symptoms and stressful life events that had occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that girls with more overgeneral autobiographical memories in combination with higher levels of rumination were most vulnerable to experiencing increases in depressive symptoms following stressful life events. Additionally, retrieving more specific autobiographical memories appeared to buffer against the impact of negative life events on depressive symptoms among both boys and girls. Memory specificity may play a protective role in depression risk, suggesting that memory specificity training interventions may prove beneficial for adolescents.

Human memory has a range of different forms and functions: we can recall events that happened to us in the past week at will, and we can draw on our long-term memory and recollect events that occurred twenty years ago as a means to help... more

Human memory has a range of different forms and functions: we can recall events that happened to us in the past week at will, and we can draw on our long-term memory and recollect events that occurred twenty years ago as a means to help us to solve current problems or to make plans for the future. Sometimes, however, remembering is less under our control. Take for example the first time that you were in love. Perhaps you were at university at the time, and the memory of the first conversation with that person kept coming to mind, keeping you from focusing on the (perhaps less exciting) history lecturer.

Most contemporary text books of neurology and of psychology pay little attention to the function of the cerebellum beyond noting it to be an organ of motor control. A historical overview of research on cerebellar function is presented,... more

Most contemporary text books of neurology and of psychology pay little attention to the function of the cerebellum beyond noting it to be an organ of motor control. A historical overview of research on cerebellar function is presented, from pre-Sherrinton suggestions of sensory and motor function, through the post-Sherrinton and dominant 20 th . Century view of "motor" function, to the 21 st . century perspective of "sensorimotor" function. The intrinsic capability of the cerebellum is briefly considered in terms of: its size/complexity/capacity; its information representation/processing characteristics (with "a particular computational function"); its sensory information processing capability; and, its role in sensorimotor regulatory control. It is suggested that the cerebellum can process sensorimotor stimulus information in a statistical (connectionist type) manner and respond to in on the basis of its own learning based sensorimotor representations, albeit at a "level" that does not necessarily involve cerebral "awareness".

Maria Filomena Mónica, nascida em Lisboa, em 1943, socióloga, historiadora, jornalista e escritora, escreveu um ensaio intitulado “A Morte”, editado pela Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos em 2011. Neste ensaio, Mónica debate a questão... more

Maria Filomena Mónica, nascida em Lisboa, em 1943, socióloga, historiadora, jornalista e escritora, escreveu um ensaio intitulado “A Morte”, editado pela Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos em 2011. Neste ensaio, Mónica debate a questão do direito à morte e à eutanásia, ou “morte assistida” como lhe prefere chamar, quando as circunstâncias impedem que o indivíduo esteja na posse das suas faculdades intelectuais e autonomia física.

Despite a growing literature on the collaborative reminiscing of mothers and children, little is known about the kinds of things mothers and children discuss as they recollect shared traumatic experiences. Do mother-child recollections of... more

Despite a growing literature on the collaborative reminiscing of mothers and children, little is known about the kinds of things mothers and children discuss as they recollect shared traumatic experiences. Do mother-child recollections of a traumatic event differ from their recollections of more benign events? To address this question, mother-child dyads (N ¼ 29) discussed a traumatic event, namely a devastating tornado, and two nontraumatic events (one that preceded and one that followed the tornado). Each dyad discussed all three events 4-months post-tornado and again 6 months later. Whereas conversations about both event types (traumatic and nontraumatic) varied with childrenÕs age, dyadsÕ recollections of the tornado were significantly longer, more narratively coherent, and more complete than their recollections of nontraumatic events. These differences largely endured over the 6-month retention interval.

about situated stories provide the backdrop for our major proposition, which is that situated stories are used to develop and maintain the self. We view self-development through situated stories as a lifespan process, beginning in early... more

about situated stories provide the backdrop for our major proposition, which is that situated stories are used to develop and maintain the self. We view self-development through situated stories as a lifespan process, beginning in early childhood and extending to old age, and that process is situated in a larger cultural milieu that holds expectations of what makes a healthy narrative and a healthy self. The ideas that stories and self are intimately that stories are situated (e.g., have separately received a great deal of attention in receznt years. In this article, however, we propose to integrate these two ideas and propose a process model of how situated stories help people to make connections between their experiences and their selves. Specifically, we focus on how stories, such as high points, turning points, and a favorite Easter Sunday, become part of the self.

Children's memories of painful experiences can have long-term consequences for their reaction to later painful events and their acceptance of later health care interventions. This review surveys research on children's memory for pain,... more

Children's memories of painful experiences can have long-term consequences for their reaction to later painful events and their acceptance of later health care interventions. This review surveys research on children's memory for pain, emphasizing implications for clinical practice. Topics reviewed include consequences of children's memories of pain; the development of memory; differences between explicit (declarative, verbal, autobiographic) memory and implicit (nondeclarative, nonverbal) memory; and individual differences, situational, and methodologic factors affecting memories of pain. Methods to prevent the adverse consequences of remembered pain are addressed with reference to current research on editing or reframing memories.

Previous research on mood dependent memory (MDM) suggests that the more one must rely on internal resources, rather than on external aids, to generate both the target events and the cues required for their retrieval, the more likely is... more

Previous research on mood dependent memory (MDM) suggests that the more one must rely on internal resources, rather than on external aids, to generate both the target events and the cues required for their retrieval, the more likely is one's memory for these events to be mood dependent. To instantiate this "do-it-yourself" principle, three experiments were conducted in which Ss experiencing either a pleasant or an unpleasant mood generated autobiographical events in response to neutral nouns. Subsequently, Ss were tested for event free recall while in the same or the alternative mood state. All three studies showed MDM, such that the likelihood of recalling an event generated 2 or 3 days ago was higher when generation and recall moods matched than when they mismatched. Prospects for future research aimed at elucidating and extending these results are discussed.

Life scripts are culturally shared expectations about the timing of life events in an idealized life course. Because they are cultural semantic knowledge, they should be known by all adult age groups including those who have not lived... more

Life scripts are culturally shared expectations about the timing of life events in an idealized life course. Because they are cultural semantic knowledge, they should be known by all adult age groups including those who have not lived through all events in the life script, but this has not been tested previously. Young, middle-aged and older adults from the Netherlands were therefore asked in this online study to imagine an ordinary Dutch infant and to name the seven most important events that were likely to take place in the life of this prototypical child. Participants subsequently answered questions about at what ages these events were expected to occur and about their prevalence, importance and valence. We found that the cultural life script was similar for young, middle-aged and older adults and for adults with different educational attainment.

The present study addressed music's disputed ability to induce genuine sadness in listeners by investigating whether listening to sad music can induce sadness-related effects on memory and judgment. Related aims were to explore how the... more

The present study addressed music's disputed ability to induce genuine sadness in listeners by investigating whether listening to sad music can induce sadness-related effects on memory and judgment. Related aims were to explore how the different mechanisms of music-induced emotions are involved in sadness induced by familiar, self-selected music and unfamiliar, experimenter-selected music, and whether the susceptibility to music-induced sadness is associated with trait empathy. One hundred twenty participants were randomly assigned into four conditions with different tasks: listening to unfamiliar sad or neutral music, or to self-selected sad music, or recalling a sad autobiographical event and writing about it. The induced affective states were measured indirectly using a word recall task and a judgment task where participants rated the emotions expressed by pictures depicting facial expressions. The results indicate that listening to sad music can indeed induce changes in emotion-related memory and judgment. However, this effect depends, to some extent, on the music's relevance to the listener, as well as on the personality attributes of the listener. Trait empathy contributed to the susceptibility to sadness induced by unfamiliar music, while autobiographical memories contributed to sadness induced by self-selected music.

Although forgetting is the common fate of most of our experiences, much evidence indicates that emotional arousal enhances the storage of memories, thus serving to create, selectively, lasting memories of our more important experiences.... more

Although forgetting is the common fate of most of our experiences, much evidence indicates that emotional arousal enhances the storage of memories, thus serving to create, selectively, lasting memories of our more important experiences. The neurobiological systems mediating emotional arousal and memory are very closely linked. The adrenal stress hormones epinephrine and corticosterone released by emotional arousal regulate the consolidation of long-term memory. The amygdala plays a critical role in mediating these stress hormone influences. The release of norepinephrine in the amygdala and the activation of noradrenergic receptors are essential for stress hormone-induced memory enhancement. The findings of both animal and human studies provide compelling evidence that stress-induced activation of the amygdala and its interactions with other brain regions involved in processing memory play a critical role in ensuring that emotionally significant experiences are well-remembered. Recent research has determined that some human subjects have highly superior autobiographic memory of their daily experiences and that there are structural differences in the brains of these subjects compared with the brains of subjects who do not have such memory. Understanding of neurobiological bases of such exceptional memory may provide additional insights into the processes underlying the selectivity of memory. Our brains, remarkable as they are, could not begin to contain and give equal weight to our every moment of life. (1) This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, "In the Light of Evolution VII: The Human Mental Machinery," held January 10-12, 2013, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in Irvine, CA. The complete program and audio files of most presentations are available on the NAS Web site at www.nasonline.org/evolution_vii.

Autobiografische boeken hebben net als historische romans en literaire non-fictie een paradoxale status. Ze gaan over werkelijk gebeurde feiten en reële ervaringen, maar ze willen tegelijk ook literatuur zijn, een hoedanigheid die vele... more

Autobiografische boeken hebben net als historische romans en literaire non-fictie een paradoxale status. Ze gaan over werkelijk gebeurde feiten en reële ervaringen, maar ze willen tegelijk ook literatuur zijn, een hoedanigheid die vele lezers verbinden met verzonnen gebeurtenissen.
De spanning tussen die twee eigenschappen en de vraag in hoeverre het vertelde echt gebeurd is, bepalen in vele gevallen mede de waardering voor het boek. In recensies van autobiografische romans wordt het gebrek aan literaire kwaliteit vaak direct verbonden met het autobiografische karakter van een boek: het is “plat autobiografisme”, “gemakzuchtig proza”, “toegeven aan de smaak van de doorsneelezer”. De literaire kwaliteit van wat het grote publiek graag leest, geldt dan per definitie als bedenkelijk. Maar ook het feit dát het om een persoonlijk relaas gaat, kan een gunstige waardering van een autobiografisch boek als literair en kunstzinnig product in de weg zitten. Recht uit het hart schrijven staat dan op gespannen voet met kunst maken

The self is a multi-faceted and temporally dynamic construct reflecting representations and beliefs about identity in the past, present, and future. Clinical studies have shown that individuals with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)... more

The self is a multi-faceted and temporally dynamic construct reflecting representations and beliefs about identity in the past, present, and future. Clinical studies have shown that individuals with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) exhibit alterations in self-related processing but these studies have fo-cused primarily on memory. Few studies in PTSD and SAD have examined self-related processing for the present and future, and no studies have directly compared these processes across these two disorders. Individuals diagnosed with PTSD (n = 21), SAD (n = 21), and healthy controls (n = 21) completed cognitive tasks related to the past, present, and future. Disorder congruent temporal alterations were found across both disorders. Further, regression analyses revealed that trauma-related memories were significantly predicted by future goals related to the trauma, whereas social anxiety-related recall was predicted by current socially anxious self-views. Thus, although self-related processing may be common in PTSD and SAD, those aspects of the self most strongly associated with disorder-congruent recall differ by disorder. Self-alterations may be modifiable and developing a better understanding of past, present, and future self-processing might aid in the development of interventions that target these process.

Individuals who report to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) almost by definition believe that these memories were previously inaccessible for them. We examined whether poor autobiographical memory specificity for all... more

Individuals who report to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) almost by definition believe that these memories were previously inaccessible for them. We examined whether poor autobiographical memory specificity for all kinds of events (i.e., events not necessarily related to CSA) may underlie such impressions of amnesia. Thus, we examined whether people who report recovered memories of CSA (n ¼ 44) would exhibit more difficulty retrieving specific autobiographical memories compared to people who never forgot their abuse experiences (continuous memory group; n ¼ 42) and people without a history of abuse (controls; n ¼ 26). The standard Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) was administered to these 3 groups along with measures of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology. Controls were significantly better at retrieving specific autobiographical memories relative to individuals with continuous and recovered CSA memories, who did not differ from each other. Thus, reduced autobiographical memory specificity was not particularly pronounced in people with recovered memories of CSA. Poor autobiographical memory specificity is unlikely to explain the impression of amnesia reported by this group.

We investigated memory qualities for positive, negative, and neutral autobiographical events. Participants recalled two personal experiences of each type and then rated their memories on several characteristics (e.g. sensorial and... more

We investigated memory qualities for positive, negative, and neutral autobiographical events. Participants recalled two personal experiences of each type and then rated their memories on several characteristics (e.g. sensorial and contextual details). They also reported whether they 'see' the events in their memories from their own perspective ('field' memories) or whether they 'see' the self engaged in the event as an observer would ('observer' memories). Positive memories contained more sensorial (visual, smell, taste) and contextual (location, time) details than both negative and neutral events, whereas negative and neutral memories did not differ on most dimensions. Positive and negative events were more often recollected with a field perspective than neutral events. Finally, participants were classified in four groups according to the repressive coping style framework. Emotional memories of repressors were not less detailed than those of the other groups.

Presque trente ans après sa disparition, le critique-écrivain suscite toujours autant la lecture et le commentaire. Cette fois, il « refait signe », comme le déclare le titre d'un numéro du Magazine littéraire, à travers deux publications... more

Presque trente ans après sa disparition, le critique-écrivain suscite toujours autant la lecture et le commentaire. Cette fois, il « refait signe », comme le déclare le titre d'un numéro du Magazine littéraire, à travers deux publications posthumes, les Carnets du voyage en Chine et le Journal de deuil, où on retrouve avec bonheur l'intellectuel émouvant et personnel, fragilisé par le deuil, reclus dans sa solitude méditative, en éternel décrochage des effets de mode et des discours trop répétés.

As we know, Sándor Ferenczi compared the analytic and adoptive relationships as the psychoanalyst exercises a parental role to some extent. The author notes that a commonality between the adoptive relationship and the analytic one is that... more

As we know, Sándor Ferenczi compared the analytic and adoptive relationships as the psychoanalyst exercises a parental role to some extent. The author notes that a commonality between the adoptive relationship and the analytic one is that if the parental couple is burdened with painful counter-transferential experiences and feelings that have not been worked through, these can pose a danger for the strength of the newly developing parental relationship. In the analytic situation the analyst's position implies the risk of conflict with the parental internal objects resulting from the primary introjections, especially if the original environment was abusive or severely neglectful. Similarly, the adoptive family is often burdened with revengeful and competitive aggressiveness of their own introjected parental objects, having as a main task to keep unified the pre-adoptive autobiographical memories that were dissociated and interrupted. In such cases it is very important to give the adoptive parents help so as to cope with their difficult ''countertransference,'' supporting them to reduce their sense of guilt and unsuitability to nurse their children, especially if the adoptive parents feel guilty because of their own infertility. In this paper the author describes two cases concerning both situations, emphasising the clinical risks and the evolutionary potentialities.

The authors provide an overview of the papers in the special issue of Memory on mental imagery and memory in psychopathology. The papers address emotional, intrusive mental imagery across a range of psychological disorders including... more

The authors provide an overview of the papers in the special issue of Memory on mental imagery and memory in psychopathology. The papers address emotional, intrusive mental imagery across a range of psychological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), agoraphobia, body dysmorphic disorder, mood disorders, and psychosis. They include work on information processing issues including modelling cravings, conditioning, and aversions, as well as imagery qualities such as vividness and emotionality. The overview aims to place the articles in a broader context and draw out some exciting implications of this novel work. It provides a clinical context to the recent growth in this area from a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) perspective. We begin with PTSD, and consider links to imagery in other disorders. The clinical implications stemming from this empirical work and from autobiographical memory theory are discussed. These include consideration of a variety of technique...

In two experiments, we examined whether post-event information (PEI) about true and false events persisted in children's reports after approximately 1 year. In Experiment 1, 4-to 6-year-olds were given PEI and then were given memory tests... more

In two experiments, we examined whether post-event information (PEI) about true and false events persisted in children's reports after approximately 1 year. In Experiment 1, 4-to 6-year-olds were given PEI and then were given memory tests 2 weeks and 15 months later. Although PEI appeared in free recall at the initial testing, it decreased substantially by the long-term test. In contrast, on recognition tasks the children showed facilitation and misinformation effects at initial and follow-up tests. Experiment 2 replicated lasting misinformation and facilitation effects in recognition memory among 4-to 9-yearolds who were tested after 1-week and 10-month delays. We conclude that true and false reminders about an experienced event continue to affect children's memory approximately 1 year later.

L']écriture a parfois (toujours ?) servi à cacher serait la vocation même de l'écriture. L'illisibilité, loin d'être l'état défaillant, monstrueux, du système scriptural, en serait au contraire la vérité (l'essence d'une pratique... more

L']écriture a parfois (toujours ?) servi à cacher serait la vocation même de l'écriture. L'illisibilité, loin d'être l'état défaillant, monstrueux, du système scriptural, en serait au contraire la vérité (l'essence d'une pratique peut-être à sa limite, non en son centre).

Music can have a strong psychology effect on people in terms of affect, autobiographical memories, and also mental imagery [1]. Recent research indicates that music can be used as a tool to promote private writing, a type of writing which... more

Music can have a strong psychology effect on people in terms of affect, autobiographical memories, and also mental imagery [1]. Recent research indicates that music can be used as a tool to promote private writing, a type of writing which results from emotions and autobiographical memory (Ramirez, Beilock, 2011) [2]. Moreover, research indicates that such therapeutic writing can work as medium to reappraise passed events

Many people report vivid recollections of the circumstances in which they learned of major events, such as the assassination of President Kennedy, or the assassination attempt on President Reagan. argued that this phenomenon, which they... more

Many people report vivid recollections of the circumstances in which they learned of major events, such as the assassination of President Kennedy, or the assassination attempt on President Reagan. argued that this phenomenon, which they labeled flashbulb memory, implies the existence of a special memory mechanism that creates a detailed, permanent record of the individual's experience when triggered by an event exceeding criterial levels of surprise and consequentiality. In this article we evaluate the special-mechanism hypothesis, arguing on empirical and logical grounds that the flashbulb-memory phenomenon does not motivate the postulation of a special flashbulb-memory mechanism. We suggest instead that flashbulb memories should be viewed as products of "ordinary" memory mechanisms, and hence as phenomena that may offer insights into the nature of these mechanisms.

A patient (PC) with severe and chronic retrograde amnesia for world knowledge (tested with famous events and famous faces), but unimpaired autobiographical memory is described. The 64-year-old man had traumatic brain injury four years... more

A patient (PC) with severe and chronic retrograde amnesia for world knowledge (tested with famous events and famous faces), but unimpaired autobiographical memory is described. The 64-year-old man had traumatic brain injury four years prior to the present evaluation. Current brain imaging showed principally damage involving the infero-lateral prefrontal and the lateral temporal regions of the left-hemisphere. PC was of average intelligence, had no depression and only minor language problems, but manifested some additional anterograde memory deficits and performed subaverage in various frontal lobesensitive tests. Patient PC represents one of the very few cases with a preserved retrograde episodic and an impaired retrograde knowledge system, showing a dissociation between preserved retrieval of autobiographical events and amnesia for nonpersonal famous events. It is hypothesized that the sparing of autobiographical memories can be linked to the integrity of the right frontal and temporo-polar cortices.