Episodic and semantic remote autobiographical memory in ageing

Many laboratory studies have demonstrated an age effect on episodic memory which is in contrast with the preservation of semantic memory. The aim of this study was the assessment of age effects on autobiographical memory according to the length of the retention interval, taking into account the episodic and semantic components. A total of 52 subjects, aged between 40 and 79, were divided into four age groups. They were tested with a sophisticated autobiographical questionnaire consisting of two tasks, one involving the recall of semantic information and another the recall of episodic events. Results revealed that episodic recall deteriorated more with age and retention interval than semantic recall. These data, gathered using an ecological test, confirm age differences demonstrated by laboratory tests on the episodic-semantic distinction. Furthermore, the profile of results obtained for the recall of specific detailed events, and analysed according to age of encoding, confirms the distribution of episodic memories across the lifespan, as modelled by Rubin, Wetzler, and Nebes (1986) with the cue-word technique.     

Directed forgetting of autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer's disease

Using the autobiographical directed forgetting method (Barnier et al., 2007), the present paper addressed the intentional inhibitory processes of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mild AD patients and healthy elderly people were instructed to either forget or to continue remembering previously generated autobiographical events. In a later recall test they were asked to reconstruct the early-generated memories regardless of the forget/remember instruction. Autobiographical reconstruction was further distributed into episodic and semantic memories. Results showed no forget instruction effect on episodic or semantic autobiographical recall with AD patients, whereas healthy elderly people were able to inhibit only episodic autobiographical memories. The findings suggest an impairment of the intentional inhibitory processes in autobiographical memory with AD and a relative preservation of these mechanisms with normal ageing. They also demonstrate an earlier decline in the intentional inhibitory processes compared to the autobiographical deterioration in AD.     

Directed forgetting of autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer's disease

Using the autobiographical directed forgetting method (Barnier et al., 2007), the present paper addressed the intentional inhibitory processes of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mild AD patients and healthy elderly people were instructed to either forget or to continue remembering previously generated autobiographical events. In a later recall test they were asked to reconstruct the early-generated memories regardless of the forget/remember instruction. Autobiographical reconstruction was further distributed into episodic and semantic memories. Results showed no forget instruction effect on episodic or semantic autobiographical recall with AD patients, whereas healthy elderly people were able to inhibit only episodic autobiographical memories. The findings suggest an impairment of the intentional inhibitory processes in autobiographical memory with AD and a relative preservation of these mechanisms with normal ageing. They also demonstrate an earlier decline in the intentional inhibitory processes compared to the autobiographical deterioration in AD.     

Ageing and autobiographical memory for emotional and neutral events

We investigated age-related effects in recall of emotional and neutral autobiographical memories. Protocols were scored according to episodic and non-episodic detail categories using the Autobiographical Interview. Young adults recalled a greater number of episodic details compared to older adults, whereas older adults recalled more semantic details, replicating previous findings. Both young and older adults' emotional memories contained more overall detail than neutral ones, with the enhancement from emotion-specific to episodic details, but this did not alter the effect of age group on the pattern of episodic and semantic details. However, the age effect on episodic details was attenuated for neutral autobiographical memories. The findings suggest that age differences for emotional autobiographical recollection might reflect a more general pattern of age-related changes in memory, with impaired recall of episodic components and relative sparing of semantic aspects of autobiographical memory in older adults when compared to young adults.     

Do school-age children remember or know the personal past?

The aim of this study was to examine developmental differences in autobiographical memory using a novel test that assesses its semantic and episodic subcomponents. Forty-two children aged 7-13 years were asked to recall semantic information and episodic events from three different time periods (current school year, last school year, and previous school years). For the recalls of all events, sense of remembering or sense of just knowing was measured via the Remember/Know paradigm. Age-related differences were observed for episodic autobiographical memory whereas semantic autobiographical memory was characterized by a relative developmental invariance. The increase with age was also found in the number of "Remember" responses and their justification in terms of the actual contextual information retrieved-factual, spatial, and, more especially, temporal details. These findings highlight developmental differences between the episodic and semantic subcomponents of autobiographical memory and support the view that mental 'time travel' through subjective time, which allows one to re-experience the past through self-awareness, is the last feature of autobiographical memory to become fully operational.     

Episodic and semantic contributions to older adults' autobiographical recall

The authors examined episodic and semantic contributions to 2 salient features of older adults' autobiographical recall: the reminiscence bump and the retention effect. Forty well-educated and healthy older men (mean age = 72.5 years; SD = 1.1) recalled personal memories in response to a series of cue words. They also categorized each memory as something they remembered from the past (R response) or they knew had happened in the past (K response) and indicated their ages when each memory occurred. The authors assumed that R and K responses reflected the operation of the episodic and semantic memory systems, respectively. Results showed a reminiscence bump and a retention effect for both R and K responses. The authors discuss the implications of this finding concerning the purported bases of the reminiscence bump and the retention effect as well as the notion that aging is more likely to effect episodic memory than semantic memory.     

Autobiographical Memory in Emerging Adulthood: Relationship with Self-Concept Clarity

Autobiographical memory research documents increased access in the number of memories recalled by emerging adults (ages 18–25) with stable, clearly defined self-concepts. Very little research has examined the relationship between self-concept clarity and the episodic and semantic components of emerging adults’ autobiographical recollections. This study examined the relationship between episodic and semantic autobiographical memory and self-concept clarity in 100 undergraduate students. Contrary to previous findings, which indicated that stable self-beliefs may be used to facilitate access to episodic memories, the results suggested that self-concept clarity may not be associated with memory specificity. Instead, self-concept clarity was associated with recall of events involving cooperative social interactions. Results further showed that older age was associated with higher SCC. The implications of these results are discussed within the context of the theoretical literature concerning the relation between autobiographical memory and the development of the self-concept during emerging adulthood.     

The effects of gender on the retrieval of episodic and semantic components of autobiographical memory

Despite consistent evidence that women exhibit greater episodic memory specificity than men, little attention has been paid to gender differences in the production of episodic details during autobiographical recall under conditions of high and low retrieval support. Similarly the role of gender on the production of semantic details used to support autobiographical memory recollections of specific events has been largely unexplored. In the present study an undergraduate sample of 50 men and 50 women were assessed using the Autobiographical Interview (Levine, Svoboda, Hay, Winocur, & Moscovitch, 2002). Women recalled more episodic information compared to men in the high retrieval support condition, whereas no gender differences were found in the low retrieval support condition. In addition, women produced more repetitions compared to men in the high retrieval support condition. No gender differences were found in the production of semantic details. These results are interpreted in terms of gender differences in encoding and reminiscence practices. This research adds to the literature on gender differences in memory recall and suggests that gender is an important variable in explaining individual differences in AM recall.     

Simulating episodic memory deficits in semantic dementia with the TraceLink model

Although semantic dementia is primarily characterised by deficits in semantic memory, episodic memory is also impaired. Patients show poor recall of old autobiographical and semantic memories, with better retrieval of recent experiences; they can form new memories, and normal performance on pictorial recognition memory has been demonstrated. As these abnormalities in episodic memory are virtually a mirror image of those seen in the amnesic syndromes, semantic dementia poses a challenge to extant models of remote memory and amnesia. Here, we show that one such model, TraceLink, can reproduce some of the principal findings on episodic memory in semantic dementia. A loss of nodes and connections within the trace system, which can be identified with the temporal neocortical memory storage sites implicated in semantic dementia, simulates without further assumptions the findings reported above.     

Simulating episodic memory deficits in semantic dementia with the TraceLink model

Although semantic dementia is primarily characterised by deficits in semantic memory, episodic memory is also impaired. Patients show poor recall of old autobiographical and semantic memories, with better retrieval of recent experiences; they can form new memories, and normal performance on pictorial recognition memory has been demonstrated. As these abnormalities in episodic memory are virtually a mirror image of those seen in the amnesic syndromes, semantic dementia poses a challenge to extant models of remote memory and amnesia. Here, we show that one such model, TraceLink, can reproduce some of the principal findings on episodic memory in semantic dementia. A loss of nodes and connections within the trace system, which can be identified with the temporal neocortical memory storage sites implicated in semantic dementia, simulates without further assumptions the findings reported above.     

Retrograde amnesia in patients with hippocampal, medial temporal, temporal lobe, or frontal pathology

There is considerable controversy concerning the theoretical basis of retrograde amnesia (R.A.). In the present paper, we compare medial temporal, medial plus lateral temporal, and frontal lesion patients on a new autobiographical memory task and measures of the more semantic aspects of memory (famous faces and news events). Only those patients with damage extending beyond the medial temporal cortex into the lateral temporal regions showed severe impairment on free recall remote memory tasks, and this held for both the autobiographical and the more semantic memory tests. However, on t-test analysis, the medial temporal group was impaired in retrieving recent autobiographical memories. Within the medial temporal group, those patients who had combined hippocampal and parahippocampal atrophy (H+) on quantified MRI performed somewhat worse on the semantic tasks than those with atrophy confined to the hippocampi (H-), but scores were very similar on autobiographical episodic recall. Correlational analyses with regional MRI volumes showed that lateral temporal volume was correlated significantly with performance on all three retrograde amnesia tests. The findings are discussed in terms of consolidation, reconsolidation, and multiple trace theory: We suggest that a widely distributed network of regions underlies the retrieval of past memories, and that the extent of lateral temporal damage appears to be critical to the emergence of a severe remote memory impairment.     

More emotional facial expressions during episodic than during semantic autobiographical retrieval

There is a substantial body of research on the relationship between emotion and autobiographical memory. Using facial analysis software, our study addressed this relationship by investigating basic emotional facial expressions that may be detected during autobiographical recall. Participants were asked to retrieve 3 autobiographical memories, each of which was triggered by one of the following cue words: happy, sad, and city. The autobiographical recall was analyzed by a software for facial analysis that detects and classifies basic emotional expressions. Analyses showed that emotional cues triggered the corresponding basic facial expressions (i.e., happy facial expression for memories cued by happy). Furthermore, we dissociated episodic and semantic retrieval, observing more emotional facial expressions during episodic than during semantic retrieval, regardless of the emotional valence of cues. Our study provides insight into facial expressions that are associated with emotional autobiographical memory. It also highlights an ecological tool to reveal physiological changes that are associated with emotion and memory.     

The effect of burn injury on adolescents autobiographical memory

Autobiographical memory recall was investigated in two female adolescent groups; one group who had experienced a burn injury and a matched control group. The Burn group was not currently depressed or anxious, but scored significantly higher on the intrusion subscale of the impact of event scale compared to controls. Two autobiographical memory tasks, the autobiographical memory cueing task and the Children's Autobiographical Memory Inventory (CAMI), were used. For the cueing task, the Burn group was significantly slower to recall specific memories. This group also recalled significantly fewer specific memories and significantly more extended overgeneral memories. For the CAMI, the burns group produced significantly lower semantic and episodic recall. The Burn group also produced significant correlations between sub-scales of the impact of event scale and selected measures on the autobiographical memory tasks. Higher intrusion scores were associated with less detailed episodic recall. Higher avoidance scores were associated with longer latencies to recall memories to negative cue words and fewer specific memories to all cue words. These results are discussed from the perspective that the Burn group experienced intrusive thoughts which interfered with normal autobiographical functioning.     

Fifty years of memory of college grades: accuracy and distortions

One to 54 years after graduating, 276 alumni correctly recalled 3,025 of 3,967 college grades. Omission errors increased with the retention interval, and better students made fewer errors. Accuracy of recall increased with confidence in recall. Eighty-one percent of commission errors inflated the actual grade. Distortions occur soon after graduation, remain constant during the retention interval, and are greater for better students and for courses students enjoyed most. Confidence in recall is unrelated to distortion. Courses that were not freely recalled, but had to be cued, were recalled less accurately and with less distortion. The data support a supplementary theory of memory distortion. The theory assumes that forgetting and distorting memory content are relatively independent processes, that relevant generic memories are used to fill in gaps after episodic memory fails, that systematic distortions affect autobiographical content that is emotionally and motivationally valenced, and that most individuals supplement with content that is emotionally more gratifying than the veridical content. The data conflict with dynamic displacement theories according to which screen memories actively block access to unpleasant veridical content.     

Autobiographical memory deficits in schizophrenia

This study investigated autobiographical memory processes in a group of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and matched controls. The schizophrenia group displayed an overgeneral style of autobiographical memory retrieval on two widely used measures, and displayed problems retrieving both autobiographical facts and events. They showed a specific impairment in the recall of autobiographical events and facts in early adulthood, around the time of onset of their illness. Retrieval deficits were independent of mood state and premorbid intellectual functioning. The magnitude of the deficits in autobiographical memory retrieval specificity were considerably greater than any general impairments in episodic and working memory.     

Overgeneral autobiographical memory recollection in Iranian combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

This study examined the recollection of autobiographical material in memory among Iranian military veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and healthy non-trauma-exposed control subjects. Participants completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, Autobiographical Memory Interview (counterbalanced), Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Wechsler Memory Scale-III and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. The PTSD group generated fewer specific episodic and semantic details of autobiographical memory compared to the non-PTSD and control groups. Working memory did not significantly moderate the relationship between PTSD diagnosis and reduced autobiographical memory specificity but did moderate the relationship between PTSD diagnosis and semantic recall; semantic memory recall was not significantly related to working memory ability for those with PTSD but was related to working memory ability for trauma survivors without PTSD. While the data provide some support for the expectation that higher working memory ability is associated with an increased ability to retrieve specific memories (i.e. semantic memory recall in those without PTSD), the findings are also consistent with the view that for those with PTSD the demands on working memory required for affect regulation cancel out this influence of working memory in augmenting access to specific memories.     

Autobiographical memory in two older adults over a twenty-year retention interval

This article reports on a study of autobiographical memory in two older adults, wife and husband, over a retention interval of 20 years. The female participant kept a 20-year log of daily events. A sampling of events that varied in distinctiveness, from unique, one-of-a-kind events to routine, almost daily events, was used to examine cued recall using an incremental scoring system. Each event recalled was also rated on phenomenological scales of remembering versus knowing, rehearsal, and importance. The strongest effect on recall was the order of the cues, with an initial what cue, containing the content of the event, proving superior to cues containing who or where elements. When was the most effective second cue. The results demonstrate regularity in retention over time and highlighted the utility of this approach for understanding the factors that influence autobiographical memory performance.     

Selective deficits in episodic feeling of knowing in ageing: A novel use of the general knowledge task

Failure to recall an item from memory can be accompanied by the subjective experience that the item is known but currently unavailable for report. The feeling of knowing (FOK) task allows measurement of the predictive accuracy of this reflective judgement. Young and older adults were asked to provide answers to general knowledge questions both prior to and after learning, thus measuring both semantic and episodic memory for the items. FOK judgements were made at each stage for all unrecalled responses, providing a measure of predictive accuracy for semantic and episodic knowledge. Results demonstrated a selective effect of age on episodic FOK resolution, with older adults found to have impaired episodic FOK accuracy while semantic FOK accuracy remained intact. Although recall and recognition measures of episodic memory are equivalent between the two age groups, older adults may have been unable to access contextual details on which to base their FOK judgements. The results suggest that older adults are not able to accurately predict future recognition of unrecalled episodic information, and consequently may have difficulties in monitoring recently encoded memories.     

Aging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval

Cognitive aging research documents reduced access to contextually specific episodic details inolder adults, whereas access to semantic or other nonepisodic information is preserved or facilitated. The present study extended this finding to autobiographical memory by using a new measure; the Autobiographical Interview. Younger and older adults recalled events from 5 life periods. Protocols were scored according to a reliable system for categorizing episodic and nonepisodic information. Whereas younger adults were biased toward episodic details reflecting happenings, locations, perceptions, and thoughts, older adults favored semantic details not connected to a particular time and place. This pattern persisted after additional structured probing for contextual details. The Autobiographical Interview is a useful instrument for quantifying episodic and semantic contributions to personal remote memory.