Measurement of overgeneral autobiographical memory: Psychometric properties of the autobiographical memory test in young and older populations

Abstract

The Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is the most widely used measure of overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM). The AMT appears to have good psychometric properties, but more research is needed on the influence and applicability of individual cue words in different languages and populations. To date, no studies have evaluated its usefulness as a measure of OMG in Spanish or older populations. This work aims to analyze the applicability of the AMT in young and older Spanish samples. We administered a Spanish version of the AMT to samples of young (N = 520) and older adults (N = 155). We conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), item response theory-based analysis (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF). Results confirm the one-factor structure for the AMT. IRT analysis suggests that both groups find the AMT easy given that they generally perform well, and that it is more precise in individuals who score low on memory specificity. DIF analysis finds three items differ in their functioning depending on age group. This differential functioning of these items affects the overall AMT scores and, thus, they should be excluded from the AMT in studies comparing young and older samples. We discuss the possible implications of the samples and cue words used.

¿Existe un Sesgo de Sobregeneralización y un Efecto de Positividad Relacionado con la Edad?

“…Para Piolino et al (2006), los recuerdos de los adultos mayores, en comparación con los más jóvenes, suelen tratar eventos genéricos, repetidos y prolongados, sin ubicarlos en una situación espacio temporal o eventos que duran menos de un día y se recuperan sin detalles específicos. Como señalan Ros y Latorre (2010) y Ros et al (2018), los procesos ejecutivos desempeñan un papel importante en la sobregeneralización de la memoria, y los cambios cognitivos inherentes a la vejez reducen la capacidad ejecutiva para recuperar recuerdos específicos, lo que explica por qué la sobregeneralización de la memoria es más evidente en adultos mayores que en adultos más jóvenes. Los recuerdos específicos se pueden recuperar mediante dos procesos: recuperación generativa y recuperación directa.…”

“…Este modelo mostró que los déficits en las funciones ejecutivas limitan la recuperación exitosa de recuerdos específicos. La recuperación generativa requiere el uso de recursos ejecutivos para establecer un modelo de recuperación y compararlo con la información recuperada, e inhibir la información que es irrelevante para la memoria que se busca (Ros et al, 2018).…”

Retrieval of negative autobiographical memories is associated with hostile attributions in ambiguous situations amongst people with schizophrenia

“…The AMT 29 measured autobiographical memory specificity by presenting participants with five positive and five negative cue words in a fixed order (happy, sad, safe, evil, interested, awkward, successful, emotionally hurt, surprised and lonely). These words were selected from previous investigations of memory specificity amongst participants with diagnoses of schizophrenia 30–32 . For each word, participants were given 60 seconds to recall a specific memory.…”

Film mood induction and emotion classification using physiological signals for health and wellness promotion in older adults living alone

“…Unfortunately, few efforts have been made to regulate the ageing adults' emotional condition (Castillo et al, ; Fernández‐Caballero, Latorre, Pastor, & Fernández‐Sotos, ) or improve their autobiographical memory (Ros et al, ; Serrano et al, ), which would play a key role in health and wellness promotion. However, the affective computing paradigm enables to decide an adequate response to human emotional stimuli (Peralta, Fernández‐Caballero, Latorre, Olivas, & Conde, ; Poria, Cambria, Bajpai, & Hussain, ; Sokolova & Fernández‐Caballero, ).…”