Context-dependent activation of reduced autobiographical memory specificity as an avoidant coping style.

Abstract

According to the affect-regulation hypothesis (Williams et al., 2007), reduced autobiographical memory specificity (rAMS) or overgeneral memory (OGM) might be considered a cognitive avoidance strategy; that is, people learn to avoid the emotionally painful consequences associated with the retrieval of specific negative memories. Based on this hypothesis, one would predict significant negative associations between AMS and avoidant coping. However, studies investigating this prediction have led to equivocal results. In the present study we tested a possible explanation for these contradictory findings. It was hypothesized that rAMS (in part) reflects an avoidant coping strategy, which might only become apparent under certain conditions, that is, conditions that signal the possibility of 'danger.' To test this hypothesis, we assessed AMS and behavioral avoidance but experimentally manipulated the instructions. In the neutral condition, two parallel versions of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) were presented under neutral instructions. In the threat condition, the first AMT was presented under neutral instructions, while the second AMT was presented under 'threat instructions.' Results showed no significant correlations between avoidance and OGM under neutral conditions but significant and markedly stronger correlations under threat conditions, with more avoidance being associated with fewer specific and more categoric memories. In addition, high avoiders showed a stronger reduction in AMS in the threat condition as compared with the neutral condition, while low avoiders showed no such difference between conditions. The data confirm that OGM can be considered as part of a broader avoidant coping style. However, more importantly, they show that, at least in nonclinical individuals, the activation of this coping style may depend on the context.

Rumination relates to reduced autobiographical memory specificity in formerly depressed patients following a self-discrepancy challenge: The case of autobiographical memory specificity reactivity

“…The combined findings of Crane et al (2007a), Debeer et al (2011), and those of the current study seem to demonstrate that activation of an underlying process (e.g., trait rumination or trait avoidance) is sufficient to detect rAMS and its association with its underlying processes. Perhaps it is possible that current activation of these processes is not necessary, but it will require more research to determine whether there are exceptions to this pattern.…”

“…The key variable is whether ruminative thinking is activated (see Crane et al, 2007a, p. 3078). In fact, such context-dependent activation of rAMS was recently also observed in a non-clinical sample of college students in relation to the affectregulation or cognitive avoidance account of rAMS (Debeer, Raes, Williams, & Hermans, 2011). Debeer et al (2011) showed that rAMS was related to trait avoidance, but only in a context that signaled danger or threat.…”

Testing the CaR–FA–X model: Investigating the mechanisms underlying reduced autobiographical memory specificity in individuals with and without a history of depression.

“…Associations between avoidant coping and reduced AMS may also emerge when AMS is assessed under threatening conditions that signal a potential need for affect regulation. In an undergraduate sample, Debeer et al (2011) found that avoidant coping was negatively correlated with AMS when participants were told that the AMT could elicit emotionally painful memories, but not when the AMT was administered under neutral conditions. Avoidant tendencies may therefore manifest as reduced AMS when individuals expect to be distressed by their memories.…”

Coping style and memory specificity in adolescents and adults with histories of child sexual abuse

“…regulating one's emotions not only about traumatic and distressing memories but generally about other situations and feelings as well (Goodman, Quas, & Ogle, 2010;Howe, 2011). If so, rAMS may be related to a person's overall coping style (Debeer, Raes, Williams, & Hermans, 2011;Debeer et al, 2012;Geraerts, Dritschel, Kreplin, Miyagawa, & Waddington, 2012;Hermans et al, 2005), and specifically to a distancing coping orientation. Overall, distancing coping and functional avoidance would be expected to have a similar relation to rAMS, although distancing coping is a broader construct.…”

“…A growing body of research indicates that an avoidant coping style (as tapped by a variety of measures) predicts rAMS for autobiographical events (e.g., Bunnell & Greenhoot, 2012;Debeer et al, 2011;Debeer, Raes, Williams, & Hermans, 2013;Geraerts et al, 2012;Hauer, Wessel, & Merckelbach, 2006;Hermans et al, 2005), and evidence suggests that this relation holds across demographics (e.g., age, clinical and nonclinical samples). For example, Hermans et al (2005) found that adolescents aged 16-17 years who scored higher on the CBAS were more likely to exhibit rAMS.…”