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Previous research with adults has shown mixed findings regarding the correlation between specificity and detailedness within autobiographical memories, and their associations with depressive symptoms. However, minimal research has tested these links in adolescents, despite the importance of this developmental period. The present investigation examined these associations in a sample of young community adolescents in Spain (N = 768; Mage = 11.04) by replicating methodology of existing studies. Cued recall was measured using the Autobiographical Memory Test and responses were subsequently coded for specificity (whether the memory referred to an event that lasted less than 24 hours) and amount of detail (time, place, sensory-perceptual information, etc.). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Reported Outcomes Measure Information System (PROMIS) measure. Two linear mixed models showed that young adolescents who retrieved more detail recalled a greater number of specific memories and that specific memories included a greater amount of detail than nonspecific memories. However, neither memory specificity nor detail were associated with depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that, in a population of young adolescents, memory specificity and detail are distinct, but interrelated, constructs. Further longitudinal research should examine whether specificity and detail predict depressive symptoms differentially over the course of adolescence; possible mediators and moderators within this association should also be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Research indicates that, compared to younger adults, older adults have difficulty recalling memories of specific past events (those lasting less than 24 h) and this difficulty is associated with depression. These studies are largely confined to a single measure of specific memory recall and there are conflicting findings when alternative measures are used. This investigation provides the first comparison of memory specificity between younger and older adults using several different measures. Method: Older (n = 105) and younger (n = 88) adults completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and Sentence Completion for Events from the Past Test (SCEPT) and the number of specific memories was quantified for each measure. Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory Version II (BDI-II). Results: Compared to younger adults, older adults recalled fewer specific memories in the AMT and more specific memories in the AMI. This latter effect was particularly pronounced for memories related to childhood. There was no group difference in responses in the SCEPT. There was no evidence of an association between memory specificity and depression for any of the measures. Conclusion: Older adults have difficulty retrieving specific memories after cuing by nouns and adjectives, as in the AMT, but they have enhanced recall of specific memories after cuing by life periods, as in the AMI, and this is particularly true of memories related to childhood. Individual differences in memory specificity are not related to depression symptoms in healthy samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although small children have autobiographical memories, as they grow, they forget its specific details. Although this forgetting is common in early childhood, the presence of effective cues may help recall autobiographical memories. This study examines the effect of verbal and visual cues on the long-term maintenance of a school trip autobiographical memories. One hundred children aged between 50 and 74 months were divided into three experimental groups: one verbal, one visual, and one control groups. The results show that, compared to the control group, both verbal and visual cues enhanced children's autobiographical memory of the school trip in the short term. These results are in line with those of other studies showing that over time children require reminder cues in order to accurately recall autobiographical memories, and that the benefit seems to be greater if the reminder cue is visual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-defining memories (SDMs) are a type of autobiographical memory that people use as a narrative way to explain their self-identity. We sought to examine the relationships between SDMs, aggression, and criminality in a sample of men, 18-64 years of age, recruited in Spain. The sample included three groups: incarcerated criminal offenders with mental illness, incarcerated criminal offenders without mental illness, and healthy community controls. Analyses of the relationship between SDMs and criminal status demonstrated that incarcerated offenders, regardless of mental health status, endorsed phenomenological characteristics of SDMs of their transgressive self at a higher level than community controls. Aggression differed across all three groups, such that inmates demonstrated higher levels of trait aggression than community controls. The associations between aggression and age at event of SDMs did not differ between groups. Further investigation of the relationship between SDMs, aggression, and criminal status may augment understanding of factors of criminality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to analyse the relationship between the dimensions of the triarchic model of psychopathy (meanness, boldness and disinhibition) and the phenomenological characteristics of Autobiographical Memory (AM) in a sample of university students, examining potential gender differences. Participants (N = 260; 55.4% women; aged 18-25) performed an AM task, followed by the Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire and the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. We found gender differences, with men scoring higher than women in meanness and disinhibition as well as in precision, accessibility, sharing and narrative coherence of AM. Correlations showed that boldness was negatively related to the valence and emotional intensity of the memory. Meanness was positively associated with precision, sensory details, accessibility, sharing, narrative coherence, distancing and preoccupation with emotions and negatively with recollection. Disinhibition was positively related to precision, sensory details and accessibility and negatively to intensity, distancing and preoccupation with emotions. Our results suggest that psychopathic traits could predict certain characteristics of AM, highlighting the predictive value of meanness, especially regarding memory quality characteristics (e.g., precision), as well as disinhibition, concerning the emotional content (e.g., preoccupation with emotions). Our results contribute to understanding psychopathy through an autobiographical perspective, showing how psychopathic traits may shape how people remember personal events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]