Autobiographical memory characteristics in depression vulnerability: Formerly depressed individuals recall less vivid positive memories
- 1 September 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Cognition and Emotion
- Vol. 25 (6), 1087-1103
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2010.531007
Abstract
The differential activation hypothesis (DAH; Teasdale, 1988) proposes that individuals who are vulnerable to depression can be distinguished from non-vulnerable individuals by the degree to which negative thoughts and maladaptive cognitive processes are activated during sad mood. While retrieval of negative autobiographical memories is noted as one such process, the model does not articulate a role for deficits in recalling positive memories. Two studies were conducted to compare the autobiographical memory characteristics of never-depressed and formerly depressed individuals following a sad mood induction. In Study 1, features of negative memories of never-depressed and formerly depressed individuals did not differ, either in neutral or sad mood. For positive memories, groups did not differ in neutral mood, but following a sad mood induction, formerly depressed individuals rated their positive memories as less vivid than their never-depressed counterparts. Study 2 examined positive autobiographical memory features more comprehensively and replicated the finding that in a sad mood formerly depressed individuals recalled less vivid positive memories than never-depressed controls. These findings suggest that the phenomenological features of positive memories could represent an important factor in depressive vulnerability, and, more broadly, that depression may be associated with a deficit in the processing of positive material.This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit:
- Developing interpretation bias modification as a "cognitive vaccine" for depressed mood: Imagining positive events makes you feel better than thinking about them verbally.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2009
- Prospective and positive mental imagery deficits in dysphoriaBehaviour Research and Therapy, 2008
- Field perspective deficit for positive memories characterizes autobiographical memory in euthymic depressed patientsBehaviour Research and Therapy, 2008
- Intrusive images in PTSD and in traumatised and non-traumatised depressed patients: A cross-sectional clinical studyBehaviour Research and Therapy, 2007
- Responses to Positive Affect: A Self-Report Measure of Rumination and DampeningCognitive Therapy and Research, 2007
- Autobiographical memory processes and the course of depression.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1999
- Evidence of latent depressive schemas in formerly depressed individuals.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1995
- Experimental inductions of emotional states and their effectiveness: A reviewBritish Journal of Psychology, 1994
- Autobiographical Memory in Depression: State or Trait Marker?The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1993
- Mood and memory.American Psychologist, 1981