Search Results (93)

Turning-point memories, experiences that impact personal development, may be interpreted in ways that emphasize positive, negative, or mixed development because the memory prompt is open-ended with regard to event valence (i.e., it does not elicit ‘high’-point or ‘low’-point life events). Broadly, narratives that articulate how one has grown or changed for the better over time are positively associated with beneficial psychological characteristics and well-being, and are thought to be a cultural master narrative template in the United States (US). Recent work suggests cultural differences in the narration of adversity. Our mixed-methods study expands the literature on cultural comparisons of turning-point autobiographical memories by comparing themes in turning-point memory narratives of US and UK college-going emerging adults and by assessing whether or not narrative differences relate to changes in well-being and emotions after narration. Results suggest that turning points are characterized by memories of adversity and that redemptive narration is similar across samples in its frequency and associations with well-being and emotions. Discussion explores when and why redemptive narration may be beneficial for people from broad backgrounds. Full article

Many publications on early house and techno music have the character of documentation and include (auto-)biographical statements from contemporaries of the scene. This literature has led to many statements, hypotheses, and conclusions. The weaknesses of such sources are their selective and subjective nature, and the danger of unclear memories, romanticization, and constructive memory. Consequently, a validation through content-based, quantitative music analyses is desirable. For this purpose, the HOuse and Techno music from Germany and AMErica (HOTGAME) corpus was built. Metrics from the field of data quality control show that the corpus is representative and explanatory for house and techno music from Germany and the United States of America between 1984 and 1994. HOTGAME can serve as a reliable source for the analysis of early house and techno music using big data methods, like inferential statistics and machine learning. Full article

Background/Objectives: Autobiographical memory (AM) is typically viewed in terms of comprising episodic (EAM) and semantic (SAM) components. Despite the emergence of numerous meta-analyses, the literature on these constructs remains fragmented. We aimed to summarize neural activations and to discuss the relations between constructs based on theory and experimentation, while evaluating the consistency between literature sources and discussing the critical issues and challenges of current research. Methods: We conducted a scoping meta-review on AM, EAM, and SAM based on meta-analytic studies in five scientific databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, PsychInfo, and PsychArticles). No temporal or language limits were applied. Results: We included twelve meta-analyses on AM, EAM and SAM in healthy populations. The meta-analyses of AM and EAM actually investigated the same construct, leading to misinterpretation. The two available meta-analyses on SAM used two different operationalizations of the construct. Neural data about EAM were analyzed via mean rank classification, finding the most relevant areas in the posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, precuneus, temporo-parietal junction, angular gyrus, and medial prefrontal cortex. SAM was linked to the posterior and anterior cingulate cortexes, middle and inferior frontal gyri, thalamus, middle and superior temporal gyri, inferior frontal and fusiform gyri, and parahippocampal cortex. Conclusions: Variability in reported activation patterns persists, reflecting differences in methodology and assumptions. We propose the homogenization the notations of EAM and AM based on experimental practice. In this notation, AM does not have a separate experimental task nor activation pattern and may not indicate a separate construct but an array of its components. Full article

Recent technological advances have introduced novel therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study introduces a novel virtual reality (VR) intervention consisting of aesthetically pleasing and relaxing immersive videos paired with evocative music for patients with or without cognitive decline. The goal of this intervention is to improve the mood, evoke autobiographical memories in, and enhance the overall well-being of elderly individuals, across stages of cognitive decline (from absent to severe). Twenty-one elderly participants (5 cognitively healthy, 13 with a mild cognitive decline, 2 with a moderate decline, and 1 with a severe decline) were exposed to immersive 360-degree videos depicting both familiar and unfamiliar, pleasant and calming environments, accompanied by emotionally evocative, pleasant, and soothing music. The results demonstrated high levels of immersion and predominantly positive emotional responses, with several participants reporting autobiographical memory recall triggered by the VR stimulation. Statistical analysis revealed a significant improvement in mood over time, regardless of cognitive status, supporting the effectiveness of the intervention. While there were some side effects of fatigue or transient anxiety, the experience was generally perceived as engaging and meaningful. This feasibility study adds to the acceptability and potential clinical utility of VR interventions and provides a justification for future larger trials aimed at the integration of immersive technologies into cognitive rehabilitation interventions for individuals at different stages of cognitive decline. Full article

Introduction: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a condition characterized by the presence of at least two distinct identities. The experience of severe trauma, particularly in childhood and especially related to physical and emotional abuse, is considered the most common etiological source, leading to the development of dissociative mechanisms, as confirmed by both the literature and the authors’ research findings. The diagnosis of DID is complex and requires a multimodal approach. This report presents a comprehensive psychiatric and psychological assessment using an integrated diagnostic framework combining clinical observation, psychometric evaluation, and neuroimaging. Methods: A 33-year-old woman presented to the Psychiatric Clinic due to numerous amnestic episodes and recurrent identity switches, resulting in a lack of continuity in autobiographical memory and heterogeneous functioning. The patient had previously been treated at the Mental Health Outpatient Clinic with suspected schizophrenia. The patient’s history was difficult to collect and switches between identities were observed, with a marked change in behavior. The patient declared the presence of 46 different personalities. The stories she reported changed, depending on the dominant identity, each of which varied in terms of gender, name, sexual orientation, interests, or pattern of behavior. Results: The patient underwent a thorough laboratory diagnosis, including toxicologic diagnosis, neuroimaging, and psychological diagnosis. On the basis of the information collected, based on the ICD-10 Classification, the diagnosis was: F44.8—dissociative identity disorder. Discussion: The clinical entity described by the authors still poses many diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainties. In the literature, we do not find a case description that holistically encompasses DID. Therefore, the following description represents a unique bibliographic item that is useful to professionals in planning medical and therapeutic care. Full article

Background/Objectives: Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) is the most common form of EDS, characterized by joint hypermobility, skin findings, and joint pains or recurrent dislocations that may also be associated with other several extra-articular symptoms. A deficit in the affect regulation represents a risk element in the development of both physical and mental health, as well as in a greater pain perception. The present study aims at exploring the associations between linguistic characteristics associated with different autobiographical memories and affect regulation and pain measures in patients affected by hEDS. A further aim is to explore the possible differences in linguistic measures between different episodes. Methods: Twenty-five patients with hEDS diagnoses (mean age = 38.32; SD = 17.00; 23 female) in treatment at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department of Umberto I Hospital in Rome completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), as well as an interview aimed at collecting memories regarding neutral, positive, and negative events and the medical condition. The transcriptions of the interviews were analyzed using a computerized linguistic measure of the referential process (RP). Results: A correlational analysis showed several significant associations among the linguistic measures, affect regulation, and perception of pain, applied to neutral, positive, and disease condition narratives. Only few significant associations emerged regarding the negative episode. Moreover, significant differences emerged between the neutral event compared with the positive, negative, and diagnosis episodes, especially with the latter. Conclusions: The present findings seem to confirm the association between affect regulation, pain, and linguistic measures, sustaining an elaborative process. Specifically, the experience of chronic pain associated with the discovery of the rare disease becomes a meaningful experience in one’s life condition and supports the ability to cope with the experience of chronicity. Full article

Background: Retrogenesis is the process by which the degenerative and vascular mechanisms of dementia reverse the order of acquisition in the normal development. Objective: The development of memory/knowledge after birth may help to know the biopsychosocial and functional characteristics (biosphere) of the retrogenesis. Methods: A literature review was performed in the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases using 43 keywords related to retrogenesis: 234 eligible records were selected. Results: The infantile amnesia, characterized from anoesis, was described along the infant/child’s biosphere in which the limbic system progressively develops the acquisition of the body knowledge (Anoetic Body Consciousness, AnBC). Anoesis is the infant memory state characterized by the absence of long-term memories of the many stressful/painful experiences that accompany the acquisition under the long-life voluntary control of the long-term memories fundamental for the body growth and survival (mainly chewing/swallowing and walking). At the age of 3–4 years, usually, the AnBC evolves, as a continuum, into the adulthood autonoesis with the emergence, in the child/adolescent, of the consciousness of “self” trough the development of the Episodic Autobiographic Memory (EAM) and the Autonoetic Mind Consciousness (AuMC). The development of cognition and knowledge is due to the progressive maturation of the whole limbic system and not only of the hippocampus. In the biopsychosocial retrogenesis, the EAM/AuMC vanishes progressively along the mild, moderate, and severe stages of dementia when the infant AnBC resurfaces, losing progressively the basic activities of daily living in a retrogenetic order of acquisition where the last functions to disappear are chewing/swallowing. Conclusion: The transition from the adult EAM-AuMC to the infant AnBC, as a continuum in the individual biosphere, adds a contribution to the assessment of the retrogenesis in dementia from a multidimensional person-centered model. Full article

The existing literature on environmentally responsible behavior in tourists focuses primarily on the factors that influence this behavior, such as tourists’ attitudes and negative feelings. However, the intrinsic benefits of conservation for individual and societal well-being are often overlooked. Under the theoretical lens of self-expansion theory, this study examined the influence of Chinese tourists’ tourism autobiographical memory on their environmentally responsible behavior using a questionnaire survey (N = 434) with partial least squares structural equation modeling. The result attested that tourists’ self-expansion and psychological richness serially mediate the association between their tourism autobiographical memory and environmentally responsible behavior as a tourist. In addition, the implicit theories of personality moderate the prediction of tourist autobiographical memory on self-expansion. The results provide an additional explanation for environmentally responsible behavior in tourists, with practical implications for marketers and operators in the industry. Full article

Background: Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a prevalent psychopathological condition, affecting 0.7–2.7% of the general population. Given the known link between identity formation and the temporal, metacognitive, and narrative processes that contribute to its coherence, the aim of the present systematic review is to synthesize the current literature about the relationship between identity diffusion and lived time in adult patients with BPD. This would enhance knowledge and treatments, leading to a better understanding of the implications of time processes on identity diffusion in BPD. Methods: According to PRISMA guidelines, the main databases were consulted, and specific eligibility criteria were applied. The selection leads to the inclusion of 15 articles, investigating through integrated techniques the lived time, memory, self-reported narratives, and metacognition in BPD subjects. Results: A general agreement among researchers was found, confirming greater difficulty for BPD subjects in producing autobiographical stories, logically and temporally integrated, characterized by positive content. Functional and structural alterations were detected to explain narrative incoherence, as well as symptoms such as emotional dysregulation and cognitive biases. Conclusions: The difficulty for BPD subjects in producing a coherent personal narrative has been interpreted as a correlation of anomalies in autobiographical memories and consequently identities, which were equally compromised by the experience of discontinuity in the temporal structure. This would confirm the hypothesis of the temporal fragmentation of the self in BPD. Although some limitations have been encountered, we suggest that the understanding of identity diffusion and lived time in BPD subjects could represent a useful guide for further research. Full article

This paper examines the use of multisensory virtual reality (VR) as a novel approach in psychological therapy for autobiographical memory retrieval with benefits for cognitive enhancement, stress reduction, etc. Previous studies demonstrated improved outcomes in treating various psychological conditions (affective disorders and PTSD). Technological advancements in VR, such as olfactory integration, can contribute to the realism and therapeutic potential of these environments. The integration of various physical stimuli with VR holds promising potential for psychological therapies and highlights the need for further interdisciplinary research. In this pilot study, we tested the efficacy of a new system for triggering autobiographical memory retrieval. For this, we used images combined with odors in a congruent manner and offering participants the chance to interact with the VR environment by using two virtual hands. We evaluated the efficacy of this system using qualitative methods, with emphasis on the evaluation of the emotions associated with memory recollection and the ease of triggering memories. All participants in our pilot study experienced intense emotions related to childhood or adolescence, and the pleasant feelings they had during the experiment persisted even after it ended. This is an advancement to what exists currently and provides original research elements for our paper. Full article

The fading affect bias (FAB) occurs in autobiographical memory when unpleasant emotions fade faster than pleasant emotions and the phenomenon appears to be a form of emotion regulation. As emotion regulation is positively related to problem solving, the current study examined FAB in the context of problem solving. In-person and online studies asked participants to provide basic demographics, describe their problem-solving abilities, and rate various healthy and unhealthy variables, including emotional intelligence and positive problem-solving attitudes. Participants also completed an autobiographical event memory form for which they recalled and described two pleasant and two unpleasant problem-solving and non-problem-solving events and rated the initial and current affect and rehearsals for those events. We found a robust FAB effect that was larger for problem-solving events than for non-problem-solving events in Study 1 but not in Study 2. We also found that FAB was positively related to healthy variables, such as grit, and negatively related to unhealthy variables, such as depression. Moreover, many of these negative relations were inverted at high levels of positive problem-solving attitudes, and these complex interactions were partially mediated by talking rehearsals and thinking rehearsals. Full article

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurocognitive disorder characterized by gradual onset and gradual progression, presenting a wide range of symptoms, with one of its main features being episodic memory impairment, present from the early stages of the disease. Currently, there is no cure for AD, so a multidimensional approach combining pharmacology with other non-pharmacological treatments is recommended to halt or delay cognitive and functional decline in patients. In this regard, music therapy emerges as a promising non-pharmacological treatment for memory in patients with AD, as musical memory appears to be preserved, retaining the ability to recall familiar songs and the memories associated with them. Therefore, the aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the current state of scientific research on the effects of music therapy on the memory of patients with AD in mild and moderate stages. A search was conducted in the Google Scholar, ProQuest, Summon, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, finding 15 articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results seem to support the use of music-based interventions for memory in patients with AD, especially regarding autobiographical memory. However, given the limitations encountered, we consider that the results pave the way for future research rather than providing solid conclusions about their effectiveness. Full article

The default mode network (DMN) is a complex network that plays a significant and active role during naturalistic stimulation. Previous studies that have used naturalistic stimuli, such as real-life stories or silent or sonorous films, have found that the information processing involved a complex hierarchical set of brain regions, including the DMN nodes. The DMN is not involved in low-level features and is only associated with high-level content-related incoming information. The human sexual experience involves a complex set of processes related to both external context and inner processes. Since the DMN plays an active role in the integration of naturalistic stimuli and aesthetic perception with beliefs, thoughts, and episodic autobiographical memories, we aimed at quantifying the involvement of the nodes of the DMN during visual sexual stimulation. After a systematic search in the principal electronic databases, we selected 83 fMRI studies, and an ALE meta-analysis was calculated. We performed conjunction analyses to assess differences in the DMN related to stimulus modalities, sex differences, and sexual orientation. The results show that sexual stimulation alters the topography of the DMN and highlights the DMN’s active role in the integration of sexual stimuli with sexual schemas and beliefs. Full article

The approach to the personal experiences and previous ideas about physical education of future primary education teachers is a starting point of great interest for the teaching of the subject of physical education didactics. The aim of the study is to investigate these prior beliefs and to verify to what extent this initial perception changes after taking the “Didactics of Physical Education” course. A concurrent mixed-methods study was conducted, which included two data collection procedures: (1) a pre-experimental design with a single group featuring a pre-test and post-test; (2) the analysis of students’ autobiographical accounts of their experiences with physical education in school. The participants were students enrolled in the Bachelor’s degree program in primary education at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) who undertook the course in 2022–2023. The results obtained reveal that after taking the Didactics of Physical Education course, students gave greater value to more positive concepts of learning, socializing, participating, and playing, among others. Similarly, in the post-test, the assessment of concepts such as competitiveness and physical fatigue diminished. In their autobiographical accounts, students associated good memories with relationships with classmates and the playful socializing nature of the subject; among the bad memories, they highlight the content related to physical performance, competitiveness, and lack of attention to the diversity of students and their individual characteristics. Full article

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients often encounter psychological challenges due to chronic pain, fatigue, side effects of medications, and disability. This study examines the relationship between autobiographical narratives and recollection patterns in RA patients. We investigated how different recall strategies for positive life events affect the emotional processing of negative episodes. We hypothesized that vividly recalling positive life events provides psychological resources that support a more intense emotional elaboration of stressful memories, allowing individuals to delve deeper into negative life experiences. Additionally, we explored the impact of these perspectives on self-reported well-being and physical health, proposing that re-living positive events improves overall well-being. Methods: We collected and analyzed high-point and low-point life-story episodes from 60 RA patients (85% female; age mean 61 ± 11 years; range 37–79) using episodic narrative interviews and the Narrative Categorical Content Analysis algorithm (NarrCat). Participants were categorized into 2 clusters based on their temporal perspective during high-point episodes: 25 used a Retrospective viewpoint, while 35 employed a Re-experiencing strategy. Depression and anxiety were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and functioning was measured using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). Results: The Re-experiencing group, which was more likely to articulate their high-point episode in vivid and real-time narrative, used more psychological perspectives (U(58) = 223, p < 0.01) and showed heightened emotional frequency (U(58) = 280, p < 0.05; positive: U(58) = 328, p < 0.05; negative: U(58) = 278, p < 0.05) in low-point episodes. No significant difference emerged between the two groups regarding psychological state (anxiety, depressive symptoms) and physical impairment. Conclusions: Vividly recalling positive events may facilitate a deeper exploration of negative memories. The Re-experiencing group showed increased positive emotions during low points, suggesting better emotion regulation. However, no significant association was found between recalling strategies, psychological state, and physical impairment. This indicates that further research is needed to determine whether re-experiencing positive life events is adaptive or maladaptive. Full article