自传体记忆测验（AMT）中线索词的标准化评定

AMT（Autobiographical Memory Test）主要用于测量自传体记忆的概括性和具体性特征,已经被诸多研究者所采用,然而关于测验方法的具体问题鲜有研究,其中测验的关键部分线索词的选择和匹配更没有设计较严谨的量化研究。目的：分析与自传体记忆相关的线索词的多种维度,并通过统计指标的计算选取多种维度上最为匹配的线索词,形成中文版的AMT测验材料。方法：采用专家评定法,选取差异系数（cv）作为线索词的计算指标,并设计了差异系数的函数公式,把维度作为参数来计算情绪词的多维参数的函数值,最终作为线索词选择的依据。结果：依据每个词汇的差异系数函数值选择了三个维度上最为匹配的词汇,得到了以15个中文线索词为测验材料的AMT测验工具。     

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memories following a negative mood induction

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) to emotional and neutral cue words appears to be a stable cognitive marker of clinical depression. For example, reduced AMS is present in remitted/recovered depressed patients and shows no reliable relationship with current levels of depressed mood in correlational studies. The present study examined whether reduced AMS could be induced in healthy volunteers with no history of depression, using a negative mood manipulation and whether levels of AMS and induced mood were positively correlated. Results showed a reduction in AMS following negative mood induction, compared to a neutral induction, whereas positive mood induction had no effects on AMS. Furthermore, lower happiness following the induction phase correlated positively with reduced AMS, and the extent of happiness reduction from pre- to post-induction correlated positively with reduction in AMS. These results suggest that AMS is, at least in part, a function of current emotion state. The implications for the literature on AMS as a stable marker of clinical depression are discussed.     

40,000 memories in young teenagers: Psychometric properties of the Autobiographical Memory Test in a UK cohort study

Although the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is widely used its psychometric properties have rarely been investigated. This paper utilises data gathered from a 10-item written version of the AMT, completed by 5792 adolescents participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, to examine the psychometric properties of the measure. The results show that the scale derived from responses to the AMT operates well over a wide range of scores, consistent with the aim of deriving a continuous measure of over-general memory. There was strong evidence of group differences in terms of gender, low negative mood, and IQ, and these were in agreement when comparing an item response theory (IRT) approach with that based on a sum score. One advantage of the IRT model is the ability to assess and consequently allow for differential item functioning. This additional analysis showed evidence of response bias for both gender and mood, resulting in attenuation in the mean differences in AMT across these groups. Implications of the findings for the use of the AMT measure in different samples are discussed.