title: Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: Specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective.
abstract: Autobiographical memory (AM) and the self are closely linked. AM retrieval in depression is characterized by a lack of specificity, suggesting an impairment of episodic AM. Autonoetic consciousness and self-perspective, which are critical to episodic AM, have never been addressed in depression. Twenty-one depressed inpatients and 21 matched controls were given an episodic AM task designed to assess positive and negative memories regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness (remember/know procedure), and self-perspective (field/observer procedure). For specificity, "remember", and "field" responses, ANOVAs revealed a main group effect and a group x valence interaction. Between groups, patients showed lower scores than controls for positive memories. Within groups, patients showed greater scores for negative memories, and controls showed greater scores for positive memories. There is a global episodic AM impairment of positive memories in depression regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective. Our results suggest new cognitive interventions to improve the self-relevance of positive memories in depression.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7593, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France. cedric.lemogne@tele2.fr
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lemogne
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piolino
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Friszer
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Claret
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Girault
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jouvent
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Allilaire
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fossati
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D003243:Consciousness; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept