Autobiographical memory and hierarchical search strategies in depressed and non-depressed participants

BMC Psychiatry

Penelope Hasking⁴  Rahmattullah Khan³  Eka Juliana²  Shamsul Haque¹ 

[1] Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya, 47500, Selangor, Malaysia;Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia;Department of Psychology & Counseling, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia;School of Psychology & Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth 6845, Western Australia, Australia

关键词: Autobiographical knowledge-base;    Hierarchical search;    Depression;    Self-memory system;    Autobiographical memory;   

Others  :  1092375
DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-014-0310-z

 received in 2013-06-17, accepted in 2014-10-21,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

There is a growing body of literature showing individuals with depression and other trauma-related disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder) recall more overgeneral and less specific autobiographical memories compared to normal participants. Although the mechanisms underlying overgeneral memory are quite clear, the search strategy operated within the autobiographical knowledge base, at time of recollection, requires further exploration. The current study aimed to examine the hierarchical search sequence used to recall autobiographical memories in depressed and non-depressed participants, with a view to determining whether depressed participants exhibited truncated search strategies.

Methods

Thirteen depressed and an equal number of non-depressed participants retrieved 15 memories each, in response to 15 commonly used cue words. Participants reported the first memory that entered in their mind. All memory descriptions were recorded and later transcribed verbatim for content analysis.

Results

Depressed participants retrieved autobiographical memories faster, produced shorter memory descriptions and were less likely to recall positive memories than non-depressed participants. Non-depressed participants were more likely to commence retrieval by accessing lifetime period knowledge followed by general event and event specific knowledge, whereas depressed participants showed a tendency to terminate retrieval at the general event level.

Conclusions

It is concluded that depressed participants do adhere to the same hierarchical search strategy as non-depressed participants when retrieving specific autobiographical memories, but that they terminate their search early, resulting in overgeneral memories.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Haque et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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