Intrusive trauma memory: A review and functional analysis

Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personal experiences that come to mind spontaneously-that is with no preceding attempt at retrieval. We propose that such memories form a basic mode of remembering that is as frequent, common and functional as voluntary remembering but presumably evolutionarily earlier than the latter. In contrast to voluntary recall, the activation of involuntary memories involves little executive control. It typically depends on a distinct featureoverlap between the remembered and current situation, which favours the activation of specific episodic information. Involuntary remembering may serve the overarching function of providing a sense of continuity across time, thereby automatically updating our personal sense of existence. Furthermore, since involuntary memories yield fast access to memories of specific events with a distinctive content-overlap to the current situation, they may serve important directive functions in novel situations.

Section: A Basic Mode Of Rememberingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The possible functions of involuntary autobiographical memories

Rasmussen

Berntsen

2009

“…Papers in this special issue explore memory processes that bear directly or indirectly upon a wide array of everyday problems and tasks, including eyewitness testimony (Wells & Quinlivan, 2009), childhood sexual abuse (Newman & Lindsay, 2009), trauma and PTSD (Krans, Näring, Becker, & Holmes, 2009;, and motivation to pursue physical fitness (Wilson, Gunn, & Ross, 2009). Some of the papers touch upon multiple practical issues, such as school exam performance, improvement in psychotherapy and coping with the death of a spouse (Levine, Lench, & Safer, 2009).…”

Section: Practical Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A focus on emotion is not new; some social, self and directive functions are enhanced when memories are affectively salient. For example, Krans et al (2009) posit that intrusive memories of trauma contribute to conceptions of the self, are shared with others in the service of enhancing intimacy and trust and serve as 'warning signals' of dangers that need to be avoided. Levine et al (2009) also propose that memory for emotion serves a directive function, by helping people decide which experiences to pursue or avoid in the future.…”

Section: Three and Only Three Functional Categories?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty years after Baddeley (1988): Is the study of autobiographical memory fully functional?

Pillemer

2009

Twenty years after Baddeley admonished memory researchers to examine the real-world relevance of their findings, research has informed a wide range of practical issues and it is increasingly guided by analyses of memory functions. Although broadly defined social, self and directive functional categories have provided an initial organizational framework for autobiographical memory research, the functional agenda will benefit from conceptual and methodological refinements and innovations. An especially valuable research strategy targets specific functions in carefully defined experimental and practical contexts. Promising research directions include comparing functions served by positive versus negative memories, tracking the early development of memory functions, and exploring individual and group differences. Although reconstructive memory processes contribute to inaccuracies in reproducing the past, functional analysis instead highlights the adaptive value of a flexible and constructive memory system.

“…Krans and her colleagues argue that even the worst autobiographical memories-intrusive, vivid, unbidden memories of traumatic experiences-have an adaptive purpose (Krans, Näring, Becker, & Holmes, 2009). In their paper, they seem to be verging close to the adaptationist fallacy-assuming that even traumatic memories, because they exist, must have adaptive value in the grand evolutionary scheme of things.…”

Section: Traumatic Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘So that we might have roses in December’: The functions of autobiographical memory

Kihlstrom

2009

Autobiographical memory is not merely declarative and episodic in nature. It also entails explicit self-reference, chronological organization and causal relations. It entails conscious recollection, in terms of remembering, knowing, feeling or believing. Its functions may be agentic or nonagentic, but all are assigned, not intrinsic, and thus are observer-relative features of reality. Questions about function risk committing the adaptationist fallacy. Intrapersonally, autobiographical memory is a critical component in the mental representation of self. Interpersonally, autobiographical memory provides a basis for establishing and maintaining social relationships. Autobiographical memory is an individual right, and it may also be an ethical obligation. The popularity of memoir as a literary genre indicates that it is also a means of making money. In a future world of artificial minds with infinite capacity for data storage, there still will be no substitute for the human capacity to remember what really matters and forget what does not.