Autobiographical memory functions in young Japanese men and women

Self- and other-focused autobiographical memories of life story events across cultures

Autobiographical memory and personal life stories are typically conceived as memories about the self. However, personal life stories often contain information about important events from other people's lives. Sometimes those memories become an important part of our own life stories, illuminating the role that other people play in remembering our personal past. In this study, we examined the extent to which memories of important life story events are self-focused (e.g., I moved to Japan) or other-focused (e.g., My child graduated from college). Participants from Mexico, Greenland, China, Denmark and the United States recalled and dated seven autobiographical memories of important personal life story events. Participants also rated the memories for importance and emotional valence. The memories were coded as self- or other-focused. Participants recalled mainly self-focused memories. However, Danish and Chinese participants recalled about 20% other-focused memories. Danish participants recalled negative events about their parents, whereas Chinese participants recalled positive events about their children. Self-focused and other-focused memories differed in their emotional valence and lifespan distribution, but not in importance. The findings show that individuals remember other-focused memories and also incorporate them into their own personal life stories. Conceptual implications for autobiographical memory are discussed.

Developments in the functions of autobiographical memory: An advanced review

In this advanced review, the development of the three most commonly used functions of autobiographical memory-directing behavior, social bonding, and self-continuity-and the support they have received in the literature are discussed. Support for this tripartite model often comes from correlational studies that use self-report measures, but participants in these studies may not be aware that they retrieved autobiographical memories to fulfill certain goals. Not only is more experimental research needed to confirm the findings from correlational studies, this kind of research needs to be more rigorous. Moreover, the functions of the tripartite model may not be the only autobiographical memory functions that can be distinguished. For example, there is already substantial support for the emotion-regulation function. Although memories can be used for multiple functions, patterns between aspects of the event (e.g., emotional valence) or memory (e.g., specificity) and their functionality have been found. In addition, individual differences (e.g., cultural background, depression symptoms) and situational factors (e.g., is there a goal that needs to be fulfilled) may regulate the functional deployment of autobiographical memories. Future research should therefore extend its focus on the conditions in which these functions can be observed. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory.

Brain Systems Underlying Fundamental Motivations of Human Social Conformity

From birth to adulthood, we often align our behaviors, attitudes, and opinions with a majority, a phenomenon known as social conformity. A seminal framework has proposed that conformity behaviors are mainly driven by three fundamental motives: a desire to gain more information to be accurate, to obtain social approval from others, and to maintain a favorable self-concept. Despite extensive interest in neuroimaging investigation of social conformity, the relationship between brain systems and these fundamental motivations has yet to be established. Here, we reviewed brain imaging findings of social conformity with a componential framework, aiming to reveal the neuropsychological substrates underlying different conformity motivations. First, information-seeking engages the evaluation of social information, information integration, and modification of task-related activity, corresponding to brain networks implicated in reward, cognitive control, and tasks at hand. Second, social acceptance involves the anticipation of social acceptance or rejection and mental state attribution, mediated by networks of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Third, self-enhancement entails the excessive representation of positive self-related information and suppression of negative self-related information, ingroup favoritism and/or outgroup derogation, and elaborated mentalizing processes to the ingroup, supported by brain systems of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Therefore, recent brain imaging studies have provided important insights into the fundamental motivations of social conformity in terms of component processes and brain mechanisms.

Does Sharing Memories Make Us Feel Closer? The Roles of Memory Type and Culture

The present research examined the effects of sharing different types of memories on perceived relationship closeness and how that is related to psychological well-being in a cross-cultural context. In two studies, European American and Asian participants (total N = 714) reported their feelings of closeness to a conversation partner in hypothetical situations that involved five types of information sharing: specific and general autobiographical memories, specific and general vicarious memories, and non-person information. Sharing memories led to greater feelings of closeness than sharing non-person information in both groups. Asians felt closer to the conversation partner than European Americans across all types of information sharing. Sharing autobiographical and specific memories led to greater closeness than sharing vicarious and general memories in both groups, although sharing specific autobiographical memories appeared most effective for relationship closeness for European Americans. Perceived relationship closeness following conversational exchanges was positively associated with psychological well-being across cultures.

A Cross-Cultural Study of Self-Defining Memories in Chinese and American College Students

Self-defining memories (SDMs) are touchstones in individuals’ narrative identity. This is the first SDM study to compare college students from the mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC) to American college students. It examined SDMs, Big Five personality traits, and memory function in 60 students from each country (n = 120). Participants rated their memories for affect, recall frequency, and importance. Chinese students recalled their most positively rated memories more frequently and with greater importance, while American students did not show this pattern. American students who scored higher in Openness were more likely to recall negative memories. Memory content coding revealed that Chinese students recalled significantly more guilt/shame events than American students. Further analysis indicated that these memories were particularly focused on academic performance and parental expectations. The discussion suggests that follow-up studies look at differing emotion regulation strategies in the two countries, as well as at how the two different educational systems are affecting late adolescent identity formation processes.

Use, Adaptivity, and Need Fulfillment: A Methodological Critique of Tests of the Functions of Autobiographical Memory

In this article, we champion the study of autobiographical memory functions. We review the proposed functions and how they have been investigated. We describe seven commonly used research designs. We argue that although each design offers unique benefits, none of these designs is ideally suited to test the functional nature of autobiographical memory with high internal validity. We stress that each design does have a unique set of benefits in the exploration of autobiographical memory and none should be abandoned. However, we encourage researchers interested in function in particular to consider designs that will illuminate the use, adaptivity, and fulfillment of needs that is inherent in the definition of function.

Investigating the mediating role of self-construal on the relationship between cultural group (Malay and Australian) and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory

Cultural differences in autobiographical memory characteristics and function have often been presumed to be associated with different cultural beliefs related to the self. The current research aimed to investigate whether self-construal mediated the relationship between cultural group and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory. Caucasian Australians (n = 71) and Malay Malaysians (n = 50) completed an online questionnaire that included the Self-Defining Memory task, the Thinking About Life Experiences Revised Questionnaire and the Self Construal Scale. As expected, the Australian group provided longer, more autonomously oriented, specific memories than the Malay group. However, contrary to our predictions, self-construal did not mediate the relationships between cultural group and memory characteristics. The Malay group reported more frequently using autobiographical memories for self-continuity than the Australian group. Finally, there was support for an indirect pathway between cultural group and use of autobiographical memories for self-continuity and social-bonding through self-construal (i.e. independent self relative to interdependent self). The findings highlight the importance of explicitly examining values assumed to be associated with autobiographical remembering, and relating these values to memory characteristics and function.

Functions of Autobiographical Memory in Younger and Older Adults

Functional approach to autobiographical memory (AM) posits its three broad functions: directive, self, and social. Although these functions are probably universal, life stage and gender variations are expected. This research builds on previous studies investigating the validity of Thinking About Life Experiences Questionnaire (TALE; Bluck and Alea, 2011). A sample of 365 adults (56% female, mean age 43.3 years), divided in 2 age cohorts (young: 18–45 years, old: 46–90 years), used TALE, to rate their tendency of using AM for three different purposes, and measures of self-concept clarity, attachment in close relationships and time perspective. Confirmatory factor analysis of TALE confirmed the tripartite model of AM functions and further analysis showed partial factorial equivalence across age and gender groups. Young tend to use AM more for directing future behavior and social-bonding, while no age differences were found in the use of AM to serve self-function. As for gender variations, women tend to use AM more for directing their behavior, while no other gender differences in the use of AM were found. TALE showed good internal consistency and convergent validity of the three subscales. The theory-driven hypotheses that individuals with low self-concept clarity would use AM more often to serve a self-function, those with higher levels of attachment anxiety would use AM more often to serve a social function, and those past-oriented would use memory more often for directive purpose, were all confirmed. Also confirmed was the notion of Past Negative Orientation to be more related to the directive use of AM than Past Positive Time Orientation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Sharing Histories-a transformative learning/teaching method to empower community health workers to support health behavior change of mothers

BACKGROUND

One of the keys to improving health globally is promoting mothers' adoption of healthy home practices for improved nutrition and illness prevention in the first 1000 days of life from conception. Customarily, mothers are taught health messages which, even if simplified, are hard to remember. The challenge is how to promote learning and behavior change of mothers more effectively in low-resource settings where access to health information is poor, educational levels are low, and traditional beliefs are strong.

METHODS

In addressing that challenge, a new learning/teaching method called "Sharing Histories" is in development to improve the performance of female community health workers (CHWs) in promoting mothers' behaviors for maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH).

RESULTS

This method builds self-confidence and empowerment of CHWs in learning sessions that are built on guided sharing of their own memories of childbearing and child care. CHWs can later share histories with the mother, building her trust and empowerment to change. For professional primary health care staff who are not educators, Sharing Histories is simple to learn and use so that the method can be easily incorporated into government health systems and ongoing CHW programs.

CONCLUSIONS

I present here the Sharing Histories method, describe how it differs from other social and behavior change methods, and discuss selected literature from psychology, communications, and neuroscience that helps to explain how and why this method works as a transformative tool to engage, teach, transform, and empower CHWs to be more effective change agents with other mothers in their communities, thereby contributing to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The distribution and the functions of autobiographical memories: Why do older adults remember autobiographical memories from their youth?

In the present study, the distribution of autobiographical memories was examined from a functional perspective: we examined whether the extent to which long-term autobiographical memories were rated as having a self-, a directive, or a social function affects the location (mean age) and scale (standard deviation) of the memory distribution. Analyses were based on a total of 5598 autobiographical memories generated by 149 adults aged between 50 and 81 years in response to 51 cue-words. Participants provided their age at the time when the recalled events had happened and rated how frequently they recall these events for self-, directive, and social purposes. While more frequently using autobiographical memories for self-functions was associated with an earlier mean age, memories frequently shared with others showed a narrower distribution around a later mean age. The directive function, by contrast, did not affect the memory distribution. The results strengthen the assumption that experiences from an individual's late adolescence serve to maintain a sense of self-continuity throughout the lifespan. Experiences that are frequently shared with others, in contrast, stem from a narrow age range located in young adulthood.

Going global: the functions of autobiographical memory in cultural context

This special issue of Memory brings together research from around the globe, from Japanese, Chinese and East Indian cultures, to American and European societies, to the Caribbean, to Turkey and to Australia and New Zealand, which examines how and why people, from childhood to old age, remember the personal past in daily life. This journey highlights the important role of the cultural context in shaping the functional usages of autobiographical memory. We illuminate six major contributions of cross-cultural research to a broader and deeper understanding of the functions of autobiographical memory, and call attention to the filed that memory research must "go global."

Going global: functions of autobiographical remembering world tour

This special issue showcases research from around the world that takes a functional approach to autobiographical remembering. In doing so, it inspires researchers to reach out to new populations. This commentary begins with a brief history of the functional approach. Person-environment interactions, in this case how individuals use memory in their current cultural context, are at the core of that approach. Based on current theoretical thinking in this area, I review the papers in this issue with the aim of exploring: (1) where culture and function might fit in current conceptualisations of autobiographical memory, (2) the relation of culture to socio-structural variables such as gender and life phase in shaping the functions of memory and (3) differences in cultural tendencies to use autobiographical memory as a resource to fulfil universal human needs.

Functions of autobiographical memory in Taiwanese and American emerging adults

The study addresses cultural and person-level factors contributing to emerging adult's use of memory to serve adaptive functions. The focus is on three functions: self-continuity, social-bonding and directing-behaviour. Taiwanese (N = 85, 52 women) and American (N = 95, 51 women) emerging adults completed the Thinking about Life Experiences scale, and measures of trait personality, self-concept clarity and future time perspective. Findings show that individuals from both cultures use memory to serve these three functions, but Taiwanese individuals use memory more frequently than Americans to maintain self-continuity. Culture also interacted with person-level factors: in Taiwan, but not America, memory is more frequently used to create self-continuity in individuals high in conscientiousness. Across cultures, having lower self-concept clarity was related to greater use of memory to create self-continuity. Findings are discussed in terms of how memory serves functions in context and specific aspects of the Taiwanese and American cultural context that may predict the functional use of memory in emerging adulthood.

Involuntary cognitions in everyday life: exploration of type, quality, content, and function

Psychological research into spontaneous or intrusive cognitions has typically focused on cognitions in one predefined domain, such as obsessional thoughts in OCD, intrusive memories in posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, or involuntary autobiographical memories and daydreaming in everyday life. Such studies have resulted in a wealth of knowledge about these specific cognitions. However, by focusing on a predefined type of cognition, other subtypes of cognition that may co-occur can be missed. In this exploratory study, we aimed to assess involuntary cognitions in everyday life without a pre-determined focus on any specific subtype of cognition. Seventy unselected undergraduate student participants were administered a questionnaire that assessed the presence of any involuntary cognitions in the past month, their quality, type, content, and potential function. In addition, participants provided self-descriptions and completed measures of psychopathology. Content analyses showed that involuntary cognitions were common, predominantly visual in nature, emotional, often about social relationships, and often related to a hypothetical function of emotional processing. About two-thirds of the cognitions that participants reported were memories. Non-memories included daydreams, imaginary worst case scenarios, imaginary future events, hypothetical reconstructions, and ruminations. Memories and non-memories were strikingly similar in their subjective experience of content and emotionality. Negative (but not positive) self-descriptions were associated with negative involuntary cognitions and psychopathology, suggesting a link between involuntary cognitions and the self. Overall, the findings suggest that people experience a wide variety of subtypes of involuntary cognitions in everyday life. Moreover, the specific subtype of involuntary cognition appears to be less important than its valence or content, at least to the subjective experience of the individual.