Investigation Into Autobiographical Memory Flashcards
What is autobiographical Memory?
- Recollection of past personal experiences
- Allows us to mentally travel back in time to re-experience the past in the present
Semantic Memory Processes
Factual knowledge about the self and the world.
Episodic Memory Processes
Specific contextual detail of a remembered event.
Recollecting autobiographical memories requires constructive episodic processes to bring together all the details associated with a pas personal experience.
How can we study autobiographical memory in a lab?
We can use a behavioural approach called Crovitz Cued-Memory Paradigm.
Participants are asked to remember a past event such that it is:
- Specific to one time
- Specific to one place
- Personally involved in them
Then participants were asked to describe that memory as in much detail as possible. The researchers would then record the audio such that afterwards, they would be able to transcribe it and measure how many semantic vs episodic memories were mentioned.
What is the scoring protocol called Autobiographical Interview (AI)?
It is a protocol that allows us to quantify the elements of autobiographical memories. This allows us to obtain metrics of the episodic and non-episodic/semantic content.
How can we study autobiographical memory with neuroimaging?
fMRI allows us to see what parts of the brain are active when a patient is trying to recall an autobiographical memory.
The construction of autobiographical memories relies on distributed networks of left-lateralized brain regions
What are the different ways of autobiographical remembering?
- Perceptual remembering: Recollecting the past with an emphasis on the sensory/perceptual details.
- Conceptual remembering: Recollecting the past with an emphasis on the thematic/evaluative details
Conceptual autobiographical remembering
Too broad. Often used when there is an open-ended scenario.
Perceptual autobiographical memory
Too narrow. Used in close-ended scenarios.
