Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory and Depression: A Study on Reduced Specificity in Autobiographical Memory and Vulnerabilities in Depression

Abstract

Autobiographical memory (AM) is defined by self-relevant memories that have been accumulated for a period of one’s life, the specificity of said memories is determined by the retrieval of events in an individual’s life that has occurred within a span of 24 hours and overgeneral retrieval of such memories is determined by extended, categoric, repeated memories along with semantic associates and omissions. This study highlights the predictive quality of testing autobiographical memory in terms of assessing depression. The current research aims to highlight the differences in retrieval of autobiographical memories in individuals diagnosed with depression and minimal depression with the help of the Beck’s Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). A total of 102 individuals within 3 different age groups (18-35, 36-55 and 56 and above) were assessed for the test. The Autobiographical Memory Test and BDI-II were used to measure the two variables. The findings of the study demonstrated a significant positive correlation between depression scores and overgenerality of AM and significant negative correlation with specific memories. There was no significant difference found between ages and recall of AM along with no significant differences in gender and the recall of AM.