title: Autobiographical episodic memory in major depressive disorder.
abstract: Autobiographical memory in major depression has been characterized as overgeneralized, with patients recalling few episodic details, prioritizing general schematic events. However, whether this effect reflects impaired episodic or semantic memory, or domain-general cognitive processes, is unknown. We used the Autobiographical Interview (Levine, Svoboda, Hay, Winocur, & Moscovitch, 2002) to derive episodic and semantic contributions to autobiographical memory in patients with severe major depression. We also assessed memory for public events and famous people. Depressed patients were impaired on episodic, but not semantic, autobiographical memory from 2 weeks to 10 years before testing. They were also impaired on memory for public events, possibly because they followed the news less than controls. Patients' memory for famous names was not impaired, although this was strongly associated with non-episodic memories to a greater degree than in controls. The findings suggest a specific impairment of episodic autobiographical memory in depression that is not fully accounted for by domain-general processes involved in strategic retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Uppsala University.
authors.forename: Hedvig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Söderlund
authors.affiliation: The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.
authors.forename: Morris
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moscovitch
authors.affiliation: The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.
authors.forename: Namita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Clarke Division.
authors.forename: Zafiris J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Daskalakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network.
authors.forename: Alastair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flint
authors.affiliation: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Sunnybrook Hospital.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4343-811X
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests