Hypnosis and memory: two hundred years of adventures and still going!

One of the most persistent beliefs about hypnosis is its ability to transcend mnemonic abilities. This belief has paved the way to the use of hypnosis in the clinical and legal arenas. The authors review the phenomena of hypnotic hypermnesia, pseudo-memories, and amnesia in light of current knowledge of hypnosis and memory. The investigation of the relation between hypnosis and memory processes has played an important role in our understanding of memory in action. Hypnosis provides a fertile field to explore the social, neuropsychological, and cognitive variables at play when individuals are asked to remember or to forget their past. We suggest promising avenues of research that may further our knowledge of the building blocks of memories and the mechanisms that leads to forgetfulness

Adult attachment and phenomenological characteristics of autobiographical memory

The aim of the studies undertaken for this thesis was to explore relations between adult attachment and autobiographical memory. Study One investigated how a self-report measure of adult attachment style related to young adults' (N = 211) recall of their earliest memories. Dismissing individuals reported fewer negatively valenced memories than their counterparts in the secure and preoccupied groups. No attachment-related differences were found in the total number of memories (positive, neutral, negative) recalled, or individuals' ratings of the phenomenological properties of the memories. All three groups tended to rate negative memories more highly than neutral/positive memories on the phenomenological characteristics, although preoccupied individuals tended to show least differentiation on the basis of emotional valence. Study Two investigated how attachment state of mind as assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) related to autobiographical memory in a separate sample (N = 65) of young adults. Autobiographical memory was assessed in terms of recall (a) of one's earliest memory, and (b) of childhood memories in response to attachment-related and non- attachment cues, and this study also controlled for concurrent depressive symptoms and previous experience of trauma. As in Study One, the earliest memory and the cued memories were rated for their phenomenological properties, but data were also collected on latency of recall. No relation was found between A.A.I, classification and any characteristic of the earliest memory. For the cued recall of attachment-related memories, A.A.I, classification independently predicted vividness, emotional intensity at encoding and emotional intensity at recall, with dismissing individuals scoring lowest and preoccupied highest. A.A.I, classification also predicted certain aspects of recall for non-attachment material. In particular, dismissing individuals rated non- attachment memories as less specific and less vivid than did individuals in the secure and preoccupied groups. A.A.I, classification has little impact on individuals’ responses to the attachment-related and non-attachment memories. The only effect of A.A.I, classification was seen on ratings of specificity; somewhat surprisingly, dismissing individuals rated attachment memories as more specific than non- attachment memories, whereas secure and preoccupied individuals did not differ in their ratings of the two types of memory. Study Three investigated how A.A.I, classification related to imagined future events in response to attachment-related and non-attachment cues in the same sample of participants who had taken part in Study Two. Controlling for gender, depressive symptoms and previous trauma (as in Study Two), the results of Study Three showed that A.A.I, classification predicted the reported vividness and self-relevance of attachment-related imagined future events. Compared with secure and preoccupied individuals, those in the dismissing group reported that future attachment-related events were less vivid. There was also a marginally significant trend for dismissing individuals to rate attachment-related future events as less self-relevant. Comparing recall of previous past events with future imagined events, individuals across all A.A.I, categories were slowing at recounting future events than at recalling past events, and rated past events as more vivid and emotionally intense. However, it was future events that were rated as more self-relevant than past events. Study Three also found that there was greater concordance between ratings of past and future events with respect to specific phenomenological properties for insecure individuals than for secure individuals

OVERGENERAL MEMORY: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DEFENSIVE EXCLUSION AND FUNCTIONAL AVOIDANCE HYPOTHESES

and PTSD generate overgeneral autobiographical memories. It has been proposed that this phenomenon is the result of functional avoidance—actively avoiding thoughts that would elicit unwanted negative affect. Curiously, the functional avoidance hypothesis of overgeneral memory (OGM) overlaps conceptually with attachment theory’s concept of defensive exclusion. The current study tests whether a model of defensive exclusion predicts the presence of OGM and whether variables underlying the functional avoidance hypothesis (i.e., trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression) account for a significant amount of variance in OGM above and beyond the defensive exclusion model. Threehundred and thirty adults completed an untimed version of the minimal instructions autobiographical memory test (AMT) online, and a series of questionnaires related to cognitive avoidance, depression, PTSD, trauma exposure, and adult attachment. The proportion of categoric memories generated on the AMT represented the construct of OGM in the current study. A significant positive correlation was found between cognitive avoidance and the proportion of categoric memories on the AMT, indicating that people reporting higher levels of cognitive avoidance also generate more overgeneral categoric memories on the AMT. Contrary to expectations, attachment avoidance did not moderate the relationship between cognitive avoidance and OGM nor did this interaction significantly predict the presence of OGM. In addition, self-reported trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression did not predict the presence of OGM. Consistent with prior research, data indicate that people reporting higher levels of cognitive avoidance also generate more categoric memories on the AMT. Contrary to expectations, adult attachment avoidance did not moderate the relationship between cognitive avoidance and OGM. Further, trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression were unrelated to OGM. Findings are discussed in the context of methodological differences using the AMT

Decline and fall:a biological, developmental, and psycholinguistic account of deliberative language processes and ageing

Background: This paper reviews the role of deliberative processes in language: those language processes that require central resources, in contrast to the automatic processes of lexicalisation, word retrieval, and parsing. 10 Aims: We describe types of deliberative processing, and show how these processes underpin high-level processes that feature strongly in language. We focus on metalin- guistic processing, strategic processing, inhibition, and planning. We relate them to frontal-lobe function and the development of the fronto-striate loop. We then focus on the role of deliberative processes in normal and pathological development and ageing, 15 and show how these processes are particularly susceptible to deterioration with age. In particular, many of the commonly observed language impairments encountered in ageing result from a decline in deliberative processing skills rather than in automatic language processes. Main Contribution: We argue that central processing plays a larger and more important 20 role in language processing and acquisition than is often credited. Conclusions: Deliberative language processes permeate language use across the lifespan. They are particularly prone to age-related loss. We conclude by discussing implications for therapy

The influence of prior knowledge on memory: A developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective

Across ontogenetic development, individuals gather manifold experiences during which they detect regularities in their environment and thereby accumulate knowledge. This knowledge is used to guide behavior, make predictions, and acquire further new knowledge. In this review, we discuss the influence of prior knowledge on memory from both the psychology and the emerging cognitive neuroscience literature and provide a developmental perspective on this topic. Recent neuroscience findings point to a prominent role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and of the hippocampus (HC) in the emergence of prior knowledge and in its application during the processes of successful memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. We take the lateral PFC into consideration as well and discuss changes in both medial and lateral PFC and HC across development and postulate how these may be related to the development of the use of prior knowledge for remembering. For future direction, we argue that, to measure age differential effects of prior knowledge on memory, it is necessary to distinguish the availability of prior knowledge from its accessibility and use

Memory Aging: Deficits, Beliefs, and Interventions

Of all mental faculties, memory is unique. It defines who we are and places our lives on a narrative continuum from birth to death. It helps to structure our days, it guides our daily tasks and goals, and it provides pleasurable interludes as we anticipate the future and recall the past. As a core, defining feature of the self (Birren & Schroots, 2006), memory takes on heightened meaning as we age. In the face of other losses that accumulate with age, memory can serve to preserve our sense of self and place in time. In normal aging, memory loss is minor and relatively inconsequential to functional well-being, other than passing annoyance at not being able to retrieve a name or a location from time to time. In non-normal or pathological aging, as characterized by Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), the loss of memory is severe and debilitating. In addition to functional disability, people with AD ultimately lose their sense of self. Connections to the past, to current events and relationships, and to what the future holds fade and ultimately disappear. Such a bleak fate for the self continues to spur researchers to look for causes and cures for normal and pathological memory failure. Current cutting-edge research examines the transition from normal to pathological memory aging, with particular emphasis on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as a transitional phase and as an independent risk factor for AD. Concurrent efforts have focused on developing effective intervention and treatment programs aimed at biological, psychosocial, and cognitive levels. This chapter highlights current research on normative memory change with age, with a focus on self-regulation, self efficacy, and memory maintenance and maximization. We also look at the special contexts of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer\u27s disease, and close with an eye toward future directions in theory, research, and intervention

Autobiographical Memory in Children with Epilepsy

Autobiographical memory involves the recall of personal facts (semantic memory) and re-experiencing of specific personal events (episodic memory). An increasing amount of research has explored autobiographical memory in adults with epilepsy, however little work has been done in children with epilepsy. In the current study 10 children with generalized and focal epilepsy and 10 age and sex-matched controls were administered the Childrens Autobiographical Memory Interview. Children with epilepsy showed deficits in the recall of episodic, but not semantic autobiographical memory in comparison to controls. Children with generalized epilepsy showed impairments in episodic autobiographical memory in contrast to patients with focal epilepsy. Exploratory analyses revealed that verbal memory and language, and age of first seizure were related to episodic autobiographical events. These results have implications for the adjustment of children with epilepsy, so that earlier diagnosis and intervention programs may be placed in order to allow these children to function maximall

Occupational Activities and Cognitive Reserve: a Frontier Approach Applied to the Survey on Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe

The aim of this paper was to use a parametric stochastic frontier approach (coming from the economic literature) to explore the impact of the concept of activity (taken in a broad sense: i.e., including both professional and non-professional activities) on the constitution and the care of cognitive reserve among the European population aged 50 and up. For this purpose, we use individual data collected during the first wave of SHARE (Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) performed in 2004. The advantages of this survey were (1) it included a large population (n = 18,623) geographically distributed throughout Europe; and (2) it simultaneously analyzed several dimensions (physical and mental health, mobility, occupational activities, socioeconomic status, etc.). Our results confirm the positive impact of occupational activities on the cognitive functioning of elderly people. These results are discussed in terms of the prevention of cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease, and more particularly of retirement policy issues.