Improving specific autobiographical memory in older adults: impacts on mood, social problem solving, and functional limitations

Abstract

Older adults have difficulty recalling specific autobiographical events. This over-general memory style is a vulnerability factor for depression. Two groups receiving interventions that have previously been successful at reducing over-general memory in depressed populations were compared to a control group. Participants were healthy older adults aged ≥70 years: memory specificity training (MEST; n = 22), life review (n = 22), and control group (n = 22). There were significant improvements in autobiographical memory specificity in the MEST and life review groups at post-training, relative to the control group, suggesting that over-general memory can be reduced in older adults. Change in social problem solving ability and functional limitations were related to change in autobiographical memory specificity, supporting the suggested role of specific retrieval in generating solutions to social problems and maintaining independence. Qualitative analysis of participants' feedback revealed that life review may be more appropriate for older adults, possibly because it involves integrating specific memories into a positive narrative.

Memory flexibility training for autobiographical memory as an intervention for maintaining social and mental well-being in older adults

“…This results in biases in attentional and memory retrieval processes towards positive material in older adults, referred to as "the positivity effect" (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999;Mather & Carstensen, 2005). In support of this, in a previous AM training study, we found that older adults with poorer inhibitory control, thus less ability to regulate emotional material, benefitted most from recalling specific positive events (Leahy et al, 2017). However, Holland et al (2012) found that although the updating aspect of executive function predicts overall specificity in older adults, it does not predict specific positive recall, suggesting that specific positive recall is not influenced by the reduced executive control in older adults.…”

“…We expected that since older adults are already successful at up-regulating positive recall, there would be limited effects on positive specific recall compared to negative specific recall. Furthermore, based on our previous findings (Leahy et al, 2017) and the combination of the evidence presented above for role of cognitive flexibility in specific retrieval, we expected that MemFlex would be particularly helpful for people with lower cognitive flexibility at baseline.…”

“…We expected that MemFlex would enhance older adults' ability to perform a controlled retrieval search for specific memories via the route of improved cognitive flexibility. This may be more effective than only providing direct practice in specific recall as previous AM interventions in older adults have done (e.g., Leahy et al, 2017;Raes et al, 2009), since it is a targeted at a specific cognitive process underlying AM retrieval, as opposed to simply practising the task that is being measured (i.e., recalling specific memories in response to cue words).…”

“…On the other hand, higher AMS has a protective effect on mental health in non-depressed older adults (Latorre et al, 2013) and is associated with better social problem-solving ability (Beaman, Pushkar, Etezadi, Bye, & Conway, 2007). Therefore, reducing over-general memory (OGM) has been a target for memory-based interventions in older adults (e.g., Leahy, Ridout, Mushtaq, & Holland, 2017). However, Dritschel, Beltsos, and McClintock (2013) argued that the ability to be flexible in the retrieval of specific and general memories under different circumstances may be more important than specificity for successful functioning in everyday life.…”

“…Social functioning could therefore be an important target for cognitive ageing interventions, as it enables people to benefit from taking part in stimulating and sociable activities. Interventions that lead to improved AMS have been shown to reduce depression in younger adults (Raes, Williams, & Hermans, 2009) and to enhance social functioning in older adults, notably social problem-solving (Beaman et al, 2007;Leahy et al, 2017). Given the proposed importance of flexible AM retrieval for everyday functioning (Dritschel et al, 2013), particularly in relation to mood regulation, interventions to improve this function could be particularly beneficial for older adults.…”