In the present study, we explored the linguistic nature of specific memories generated with the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) by developing a computerized classifier that distinguishes between specific and nonspecific memories. The AMT is regarded as one of the most important assessment tools to study memory dysfunctions (e.g., difficulty recalling the specific details of memories) in psychopathology. In Study 1, we utilized the Japanese corpus data of 12,400 cuerecalled memories tagged with observer-rated specificity. We extracted linguistic features of particular relevance to memory specificity, such as past tense, negation, and adverbial words and phrases pertaining to time and location. On the basis of these features, a support vector machine (SVM) was trained to classify the memories into specific and nonspecific categories, which achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of .92 in a performance test. In Study 2, the trained SVM was tested in terms of its robustness in classifying novel memories (n = 8,478) that were retrieved in response to cue words that were different from those used in Study 1. The SVM showed an AUC of .89 in classifying the new memories. In Study 3, we extended the binary SVM to a five-class classification of the AMT, which achieved 64%-65% classification accuracy, against the chance level (20%) in the performance tests. Our data suggest that memory specificity can be identified with a relatively small number of words, capturing the universal linguistic features of memory specificity across memories in diverse contents. Keywords Autobiographical memory . Natural language processing . Machine learning . Support vector machineThe nature of specific autobiographical memoriesThe specificity of autobiographical memories has been studied frequently in the past three decades, in the fields of cognitive, social, and clinical psychology. An autobiographical memory (AM) refers to Ba memory that is concerned with the recollection of personally experienced past events ( Williams et al., 2007, p. 122). The level of episodic specificity with which such personal memories are recalled has become a target of increased interest related to topics such as aging, cultural differences, and-most importantly-psychopathology (e.g., Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2008;van Vreeswijk & de Wilde, 2004;Wang, Hou, Tang, & Wiprovnick, 2011). Specificity is important not only for vividly reexperiencing past events, but also for clearly imagining future events. In fact, remembering past events and envisioning possible future events share similar cognitive functions and neural substrates (Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2007;D'Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2006;Okuda et al. 2003). Thus, AM recall, and particularly the retrieval of episodic specificity, is assumed to play a central role in human functioning because AM specificity contributes to a sense of self and serves as a source for future planning and goal pursuit .Reduced AM specificity is considered particularly important in clinical psychology. Empirical studies in ...

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Theorists have suggested that self-focused attention has adaptive and maladaptive aspects and have proposed self-rumination and self-reflection. Previous research on self-focus and mindfulness have shown that self-rumination increases depression and counteracts decentering which is the capacity to take a detached view of one's thoughts and emotions. On the contrary, although self-reflection was defined as an adaptive type of self-focus, its contents or mode have not been examined, and the mechanism of its contribution to psychological adjustment is still not well understood. Hence, we explored the function of self-reflection in relation to decentering to elucidate its adaptivity. Two-hundred and forty-nine Japanese undergraduate students participated in our cross-sectional questionnaire study. Mediation analysis indicated that individuals with higher levels of self-reflection showed more decentering and less depressive symptoms while self-ruminative participants showed less decentering and more depressive symptoms. This result suggests that self-reflection involves decentered self-focused attention, and its adaptive function appears when self-reflection leads to increased decentering.

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