Autobiographical Memory - Essay Example

? Autobiographical Memory Introduction The paper focuses on critically reflecting on the relationship between autobiographical memory and self-image. I have tried to question the significant role of self-image in shaping one’s autobiographical memory. It has been researched that the people are more inclined toward remembering only the information which fits their image about themselves (Braisby & Gellafy, 2005; Eysenck & Keane, 2010). I would critically analyze this assumption in the light of the research journals and literature about autobiographical memory. The studies have been collected on various area of autobiographical memory which discusses several aspects of this memory system analytically. In this paper, I would also shed light on my own personal experiences and how I critically view them. Main Body Most people tend to confuse the term ‘autobiographical memory’ with episodic memory. The episodic memory is the memory system which includes the information regarding certain life episodes of life. Autobiographical memory, however, is type of memory system which concerns not only episodic memory but semantic memory as well. The semantic memory is concerned with various facts of life as well as general knowledge. To clarify the concepts of memory, I can relate it to my own life experiences. For instance, when I learned driving, this knowledge came into my procedural memory, a memory system which endorses various skills’ learning. Now, this information has taken the form of a fact that I can drive which is specifically personal-relevant. All this information which concerns me comes into the realm of autobiographical memory. Here, I would differentiate between autobiographical fact and autobiographical memory which seem similar to each other. An autobiographical fact means knowing that we have achieved A-grade in high school or got a car as a contest prize. However, if I think about some events which occurred before I got distinction or prize, they would be thoughts taken out of my autobiographical memory. On the whole, all kind of information which is related to a person’s life is included in the autobiographical memory. The general events or things which do not directly influence someone are not a part of this memory system. For instance, if I would think about the things and events which personally influenced me, such as 9/11 incident, it would be my autobiographical memory. Bohn & Berntsen (2007) conducted a study on 103 Germans who were influenced by the event of Berlin wall fall. Their flashbulb memories regarding this particular event were investigated for the positive or negative nature. It was seen in the results of the study that the people who considered this event positive had more vivid memories about this incident as compared to those who negatively saw this event. The people with negative memories had more factual information about the consequences of this event than the event itself. The people who took this event as positive related it to their self-identity unlike negative group, which detach their identity thoroughly from this event. However, if I relate this study’s findings with my own experiences that I took the event of 9/11 negatively but do not have a less vivid memory of this event. Instead, I do think of this event as influencing my personal identity and my flashbulb memory is not just limited to factual data related to the event. The flashbulb memory of 9/11 has been studied by Hirst et al (2009) who collected data from 3000 participants. He found that the rate of forgetting slowed down in the participants after a period of one year. Not only the flashbulb memory faded after passing a year, but their memory of the actual event also got affected with the passage of time. Furthermore, it was also seen in the study that the participants’ emotional responses became more prone to forgetting than the non-emotional ones. I can find this study’s results implemented in my real life experiences also. I think that my flashbulb memory for some events has faded which happened a year ago. I cannot fully recall the details of the event now when I had a deadly accident a year ago. I do remember that it was an emotionally charged event for me but I cannot feel that many emotions aroused with that event when I think about this event now. Another study can help me understand why I cannot remember much flashbulb memories when I actually think I know even the minute details of an emotional or highly affective incident (Talarico & Rubin, 2003). The researchers found in this study that the people tended to believe that they had more vivid flashbulb memories when in reality it was not different than their memory of general events. It makes me think that I really feel confident about my flashbulb memory of 9/11 incident but perhaps my memory for other events that occurred at that time would be equally the same. My autobiographical memory for a conversation with my classmate about an essay is not different from the flashbulb memory event when I recall them both. A couple of studies investigated the involvement of emotions with respect to autobiographical memory (Philippe et al, 2011; Thomsen & Berntsen, 2005). The former study asked the participants to share their specific memories related to a relationship (Thomsen & Berntsen, 2005). The findings of the study showed that the participants shared equal number of positive and negative memories associated with the event. However, the latter study examined the functioning of autobiographical memory in dealing with negative emotions. The researchers indicated few factors which were found to be linked with the negative emotions (Philippe et al, 2011). For instance, autonomy, relatedness and competence were found to be the determining factors in the negative experiences of people. According to my perception, these factors affect a person because these are secondary needs of a person. I can remember the time when I had a negative experience because I could not feel myself independent in the face of reality. I struggled with getting autonomy in my adolescence which led to many negative experiences. The people have their memory about personal events which not only ranges from being positive or negative to having various qualities in it. Regret, for instance, is an emotion which some people consider very seriously in their lives. It has been investigated by Valenti, Libby & Eibach (2011) in their study who found that people experienced regret about the action they did not commit when they looked at the broad perspective of their life. It, no doubt, gave them pain to realize that they missed some significant thing in their life. However, D'Argembeau & Van der Linden (2008) studied the emotion of shame and pride with respect to autobiographical memory. The findings of the study validated the assumption that the people’s autobiographical memory is based on their images about self. I believe that people tend to remember the events which brought them pride or shame more than the others. It can be understood by an example that when once I was insulted by my teacher before the class in my sixth grade, I did not forget this event. Although, a lot of time passed till this event happened yet I could not forget the feelings of shame which I experienced at that moment. Same is the case with the events which made me proud, such as, winning a scholarship for the first time. I would strongly speak for the role of self-image which is played in the retention of the autobiographical memory. Rathbone, Moulin & Conway (2008) also studied the role of self with respect to this memory system and identified the phenomenon of self-centrism in the autobiographical memory. The use of self suggests that the people tend to look toward event by relating them with their ‘self’. For instance, if someone happens to pass by me, I would probably let it go unnoticed unless there is something which I can connect to. However, if the person passing by stops and talks to me for a while, if it is of significant nature, I would probably not forget that incident. Therefore, such events would be saved in my autobiographical memory which influence my ‘self’ is some way. We have so far discussed the autobiographical memories about people in general. However, the people who are suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety disorder have somewhat different processes of memory retrieval or retention of autobiographical memory. A study investigated the memory loss experienced by the patients of severe depression which soon followed the ECT or drug therapy (Kho, VanVreeswijk & Murre, 2006). Interestingly, the depressed patients did not think that ECT or drug therapy was responsible for their memory complaints. Most of them regarded their illness or depression as the cause behind forgetting. Another study was focused on patients of post-traumatic stress disorder and the self-memories were examined in it (Sutherland & Bryant, 2008). In the study, the participants were asked to discuss their autobiographical memories with respect to the cues which were provided to them. The participants had to answer each cue with a respective memory of their self. It was found that the patients of PTSD were more likely to give responses related to their traumatic memories as compared to those who were not inflicted with this disorder. Further, it was analyzed that the positive responses given by PTSD patients were also not free from negativity hidden in it. These responses were seen as the discrepancies among the real and ideal self. It suggests that the people who are suffering from psychological disorders have different patterns of retrieval of autobiographical memory than normal people. Although autobiographical memory has been thought of as a cognitive system yet it is also influenced by the society’s influences. The social construction of memory has been captured in the study by Gill (2012) who studied the role of society in the construction of autobiographical memory. It was seen that the memories of the people of the same era who had undergone the period of Civil War were molded according to the purposefulness of each event surrounding them. The people tended to forget the things which could not serve them any social purpose and narrated only socially significant memories. It causes me to think about my own memories of some socially significant event. I tend to share or discuss only those details which I consider would be socially acceptable or helpful for me. There are lots of researches which have studied the autobiographical memories of various groups of people (Bowen & Petrelli, 2011; Gilbourne, 2002; Han, 2010). A study examined the memories of sportsmen and found them to be greatly concerned about their self-image. Moreover, it was also seen that they considered their memories to be more vivid than they actually were. Similarly, another study focused on the role which age factors have on the recall of the autobiographical memory (Davis, 2011). It was seen that young people tended to remember more than the old people when they were tested on an autobiographical memory test. It suggests that the people have different responses toward their retention of memory when it is related to autobiographical memory (Ready, Weinberger & Jones, 2007). I can see this finding to be more appropriate while relating it with my personal experiences. I have learnt through my experience with old people that they tend to forget things often. However, this finding also seem contradictory is some occasions. I have also seen that some old people have very good memories and they are able to talk about themselves in details while narrating events of their personal life. Conclusion The paper presented important insight about autobiographical memory and showed the contribution of various researchers in this area. The question with which the paper began related to the self-image role in the autobiographical memory. Through the presentation of researches and literature, this question was answered and validated. It has been seen while literature review that the people were more likely to remember the things or incorporate event in their autobiographical memory when it suited their images about self. However, several other things were also found out such as the people were inclined toward remembering the things which were related to aspects of regret, shame and pride as well as associated with themselves. References Bohn, A., & Berntsen, 2007, ‘Pleasantness bias in flash bulb memories: Positive and negative flashbulb memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall among East and West Germans’, Memory and Cognition, 35, 3, pp. 565-577. Bowen, S, & Petrelli, D 2011, 'Remembering today tomorrow: Exploring the human-centred design of digital mementos', International Journal Of Human-Computer Studies, 69, 5, pp. 324-337, PsycINFO, EBSCOhost, viewed 12 March 2012. Braisby, N., & Gellafy, A. 2005, Cognitive Psychology, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Davis, RG 2011, 'Review of 'Writing against, alongside, and beyond memory: Lifewriting as reflexive, poststructuralist feminist research'', Affilia: Journal Of Women & Social Work, 26, 3, pp. 334-335, PsycINFO, EBSCOhost, viewed 12 March 2012. 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