Journal
PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN
Volume 133, Issue 1, Pages 122-148Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.122
Keywords
autobiographical memory; specificity; overgenerality; depression; PTSD
Categories
Funding
- Medical Research Council [MC_U105579215] Funding Source: Medline
- Wellcome Trust [067797] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The authors review research showing that when recalling autobiographical events, many emotionally disturbed patients summarize categories of events rather than retrieving a single episode. The mechanisms underlying such overgeneral memory are examined, with a focus on M. A. Conway and C. W. Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) hierarchical search model of personal event retrieval. An elaboration of this model is proposed to account for overgeneral memory, focusing on how memory search can be affected by (a) capture and rumination processes, when mnemonic information used in retrieval activates ruminative thinking; (b) functional avoidance, when episodic material threatens to cause affective disturbance; and (c) impairment in executive capacity and control that limits an individual's ability to remain focused on retrieval in the face of distraction.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available