Mood‐related self‐schemata and mood‐congruity effects in autobiographical memory: A study of women with premenstrual syndrome

Abstract

Everyday autobiographical memory and mood interactions were explored in a small clinical sample of women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and a matched control group. Subjects kept daily records of memorable events for two consecutive menstrual cycles. Two recognition memory tests were given after a one-cycle delay. Mood, or affect, was self-assessed retrospectively over a week, at the end of each day during data collection and at testing, and when events occurred. Women with PMS were more depressed and more negative (angry) than positive (experiencing bursts of energy) in their daily moods than controls. Memory accuracy was poorer overall for PMS than control subjects, although no direct effects of menstrual cycle phase on memory were found. Instead, mood affected memory indirectly through moodrelated self-schemata which subsequently mediated mood-congruity effects. Memory accuracy for events experienced in negative mood states and associated with negative affective reactions was higher for PMS subjects when tested in negative mood states than for controls. No group differences were found on events associated with positive affect or positive daily moods when mood state at the time of testing was also positive. Women with PMS processed information selectively from negative events and events experienced in negative moods compared to controls. Negative events and negative moods appeared to interfere with remembering for control subjects. Women in the control group appeared to be biased towards selectively remembering positive events and events experienced on days when their mood states were relatively positive. Autobiographical memories are reconstructions of self-referenced information (Barclay, 1986(Barclay, , 1988Brewer, 1986Brewer, , 1988. Understanding how everyday self-referenced information is accessed and reconstructed is a central problem for any theory of autobiographical memory. One solution to this problem is to determine the factors facilitating, inhibiting or attenuating reconstructive memory processes. Selfschemata, as generic attitudes and beliefs people hold about themselves as cognitive, emotional and social beings, represent one such set of factors (Markus, 1977). Selfschemata, acquired through varied mundane and, at times, unusual and transitional life experiences, are therefore hypothesized to influence the selection, processing, and remembering of self-referenced information (Barclay, 1988; Barclay and 0888-4080/9

Autobiographical remembering and self-composing

“…Data support this reinterpretation, because such "errors" vary as a function of the semantic similarity between the foils and the original records from which they were written (Barclay, 1986). Other supporting evidence for this reinterpretation is that, on evaluation foils, false-alarm rates have been shown to vary as a function of the congruency or incongruency-again reflecting an underlying interpretative dimension of perceived semantic similarity-between the participants' typical mood states and the affective tone of recognition test items (Barclay, Hodges, & Smith, 1990;Barclay, Petitto, Labrum, & Carter-Jessop, 1990).…”

“…The first study was of mood-congruity effects in memory among a small group of women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and a matched control sample without PMS (Barclay, Petitto, Labrum, & Carter-Jessop, 1990). Mood or affect was assessed at four different levels: globally, by group selection, with PMS women being more negative in mood overall than controls; weekly, through use of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961); daily, by having women rate the number and severity of their moods in the Menstrual Cycle Daily Diary (MCDD; Labrum, 1986); and at the time events occurred, using affect rating scales (e.g., irritable-to-cheerful, angry-to-friendly) developed by Csikszentmihalyi and Larson (1984).…”

A pragmatic approach to early childhood memories: Shifting the focus from truth to clinical utility.

“…A second study (Barclay et al, 1991) demonstrated the strong link between negative mood/ negative mindset and recall for negative events. In short, the authors found that a sample of women suffering from premenstrual syndrome recorded more negative events, then later recalled events that were extremely negative.…”

“…Said more technically, "a coherent self-portrait is formed through the reconstruction of a plausible past in the context of a present psychosocial and emotional setting. Autobiographical memories can be used in numerous ways to invent, illustrate, and portray the narrative truth of one’s life in the act of remembering" (Barclay et al, 1991, p. 462).…”