Autobiographical memory

Summary

Autobiographical memory (AM) is a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic (personal experiences and specific objects, people and events experienced at particular time and place) and semantic (general knowledge and facts about the world) memory. It is thus a type of explicit memory. Conway and Pleydell-Pearce (2000) proposed that autobiographical memory is constructed within a self-memory system (SMS), a conceptual model composed of an autobiographical knowledge base and the working self. The autobiographical knowledge base contains knowledge of the self, used to provide information on what the self is, what the self was, and what the self can be. This information is categorized into three broad areas: lifetime periods, general events, and event-specific knowledge. Lifetime periods are composed of general knowledge about a distinguishable and themed time in an individual's life. For example, the period spent at school (school theme), or entering the workforce (work theme). Lifetime periods have a distinct beginning and ending, but they are often fuzzy and overlap. Lifetime periods contain thematic knowledge about the features of that period, such as the activities, relationships, and locations involved, as well as temporal knowledge about the duration of the period. The thematic information in these periods can be used to group them together under broader themes, which can reflect personal attitudes or goals. As an example, a lifetime period with the theme of "when I lost my job" could fall under the broader category of either "when everything went downhill for me" or "minor setbacks in my life." General events are more specific than lifetime periods and encompass single representations of repeated events or a sequence of related events. General events group into clusters with a common theme, so that when one memory of a general event is recalled, it cues the recall of other related events in memory.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiographical_memory

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Related publications (2)

Underlying mechanisms of episodic autobiographical memory and self-consciousness

Lucie Bréchet

Cognitive neuroscience has been examining consciousness associated with the subject, that is the self of the conscious experience and its related multisensory processing of bodily signals, the so-called bodily self-consciousness. Different line of research has highlighted the concept of the autobiographical self in memory and the associated autonoetic consciousness, that is the human ability to mentally travel in time. The subjective re-experiencing of past episodes is often described as re-living them from a viewpoint and location that is similar to the initial encoding. In the first part of my thesis, I have studied how self-relevant bodily cues and personal memories influence our sense of self. In the second part, I have examined how the self is involved in spontaneous thoughts. Through a collection of four studies, I will argue here that it is possible to explore the underlying characteristics of self-consciousness and its relation to bodily signals and memory by a number of cognitive neuroscience approaches, including virtual reality (VR), electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). First, I investigated how the presence or absence of multisensory bodily cues influences long-term episodic autobiographical memory by using immersive VR environment. Second, I examined the underlying brain mechanisms of bodily-self and autobiographical-self by combining a meta-analytical approach with recent fMRI results from (a) patients suffering with out-of-body experiences and (b) healthy participants with induced illusory states of bodily self. Third, I explored how the immersive VR technology can be used to selectively and retroactively strengthen episodic autobiographical memory. Fourth, I examined whether it is possible to capture the inner, self-relevant conscious thoughts and record them with both fMRI and EEG methods. The results from my thesis indicate that (a) the bodily cues fundamentally influence the autobiographical memory and (b) it is possible to manipulate the self-related nature of conscious thoughts. I will discuss my findings with reference to current understanding of bodily-self, autobiographical-self and their links to theories of self-consciousness. Finally, based on my results, I will suggest what should be the following, future step towards memory prosthesis.

EPFL2019

Self in time: imagined self-location influences neural activity related to mental time travel

Olaf Blanke

Conscious awareness of the self as continuous through time is attributed to the human ability to remember the past and to predict the future, a cogitation that has been called "mental time travel" (MTT). MTT allows one to re-experience one's own past by subjectively "locating" the self to a previously experienced place and time, or to pre-experience an event by locating the self into the future. Here, we used a novel behavioral paradigm in combination with evoked potential mapping and electrical neuroimaging, revealing that MTT is composed of two different cognitive processes: absolute MTT, which is the location of the self to different points in time (past, present, or future), and relative MTT, which is the location of one's self with respect to the experienced event (relative past and relative future). These processes recruit a network of brain areas in distinct time periods including the occipitotemporal, temporoparietal, and anteromedial temporal cortices. Our findings suggest that in addition to autobiographical memory processes, the cognitive mechanisms of MTT also involve mental imagery and self-location, and that relative MTT, but not absolute MTT, is more strongly directed to future prediction than to past recollection.

2008

Related concepts (21)

Repressed memory

Repressed memory is a controversial, and largely scientifically discredited, psychiatric phenomenon which involves an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is understood as a defense mechanism that excludes painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from consciousness. Repressed memory is presently considered largely unsupported by research.

Memory

Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, relationships, or personal identity to develop. Memory loss is usually described as forgetfulness or amnesia. Memory is often understood as an informational processing system with explicit and implicit functioning that is made up of a sensory processor, short-term (or working) memory, and long-term memory.

Autobiographical memory

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Underlying mechanisms of episodic autobiographical memory and self-consciousness

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EPFL2019