Autobiographical memories for negative and positive events in war contexts

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenological qualities of self-reported negative and positive memories. The study was conducted in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and a total of 134 autobiographical memories about negative and positive events were analyzed using a version of the Phenomenological Questionnaire for Autobiographical Memory (Manzanero & López, 2007). Participants were university students, 80 percent were women and 20 percent were men. Results showed that negative memories are more confused, more complex, and decay more over time than positive ones. In contrast, no differences were found between positive and negative memories on sensory information, spatial location, vividness, definition, accessibility, fragmentation, recall perspective, doubts about the accuracy of the memory, and how much participants recovered and talked about the event. High Dimensional Visualization (HDV) graph revealed that there were individual differences between negative and positive memories but no consistent differences across participants.

Age-related differences in the phenomenal characteristics of long-term memories of March 11, 2004 terrorist attack

“…In any case, the characteristics of memories of traumatic events may depend on cultural and/or resilience factors, as shown in a recent study assessing positive and negative memories amongst the people of the Gaza Strip (Manzanero, López, Aróztegui, & El-Astal, 2015). Thus, the same negative event could be remembered in a vivid and consistent manner or, conversely, in a fragmented manner or perhaps not at all.…”

Dissociative Amnesia beyond the Evidence about the Functioning of Memory

“…However, it is characteristic of autobiographical memories to be recovered from different points of view, from an observer's perspective (in third person or as if it were a film) or from a field perspective (from the protagonist perspective itself). In general, this difference is not due to a pathology, dissociation, which is serious and rare, but to the normal functioning of memory (D'Argembeau, Comblain, & Van der Linden, 2003;Manzanero, López, Aróztegui, & El-Astal, 2015) and to the effect of multiple recovery that is typical in this type of memories and that also characterizes the earliest and most elaborated memories (Crawley & French, 2005).…”

Between happiness and sorrow: Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories concerning war episodes and positive events in the Gaza Strip

“…In addition, it has been found that traumatic episodes are recalled more consistently over time than non-traumatic events. Core details can be remembered more clearly and accurately (Manzanero et al, 2015; Schmidt, 2004; Schönfeld and Ehlers, 2017; Segovia et al, 2017), and irrelevant details less accurately than for other autobiographical memories.…”

“…In this article, we present an exploratory case study, using data collected from a group of non-clinical participants who had been exposed to war and episodes of conflict. The research was informed by a previous study conducted in the Gaza Strip in autumn 2009 soon after the Israeli offensive known as ‘Operation Cast Lead’, in which both negative and positive low-intensity memories were evaluated in university students (Manzanero et al, 2015). The results showed that memories of negative events were more confusing, more complex, and more impaired than positive memories.…”