RESUMEN
Autobiographical memory impairments are prominent in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Yet, life narratives of AD patients are scarcely examined. Here, twenty-one older adults diagnosed with probably AD and 22 age-matched healthy controls told their life story, and dated the events mentioned in these narratives. AD patients provided significantly fewer life story memories overall, but the proportion of memories with reference to specific events did not differ between groups. Patients included fewer negative events in their life story, while the emotional tone of narratives was similar across groups. Impairments were found on most structural aspects, with patients' narratives being less coherent and ending somewhere in the past, while no differences were seen for life story beginnings. Both groups showed a peak in remembered events dated to young adulthood, consistent with a reminiscence bump. However, in contrast to controls, patients displayed a steep drop in life story memories after the age of 30. For both groups, a high proportion of memories within the bump period were of life script events, consistent with the idea that the life script helps to structure the recall of personal life story memories, thus suggesting that AD patients still benefit from the retrieval support of this semantic structure.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer , Memoria Episódica , Humanos , Adulto Joven , Adulto , Anciano , Acontecimientos que Cambian la Vida , Recuerdo Mental , EmocionesRESUMEN
Many theories on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) make assumptions on the relationship between PTSD and centrality of traumas to the life story and identity. Although the Centrality of Event Scale (CES) is a popular measure of centrality of personally experienced events to the life story, no studies have examined whether self-rated "central" events are mentioned, when individuals recount their lives. It is also unknown if mentioning specific event types in the life story is related to psychological health or life story coherence. We asked 386 adults to write their life stories, nominate their most traumatic and positive events, rate these events on the CES, and complete measures of PTSD and depression. Two-thirds of the sample mentioned at least one event, with the positive event being mentioned twice as often as the trauma. Mentioned events were more central than non-mentioned events. Participants who mentioned their trauma scored higher on symptoms of PTSD and depression than participants who only mentioned their positive event, but did not write less coherent life stories. Further, death- and illness-related traumas were mentioned more often than accidents and disasters. Findings are discussed in relation to theories on trauma memory in PTSD.
Asunto(s)
Acontecimientos que Cambian la Vida , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático , Adulto , Humanos , Salud Mental , Autoinforme , Trastornos por Estrés Postraumático/psicologíaRESUMEN
Research has shown that identity in adolescence takes the shape of a coherent life story that integrates the past with the present self and provides meaning and purpose in the person's life. One stable feature of narrative identity identified in adults is emotional tone. Here, the development of emotional tone in life stories was investigated across childhood and adolescence. A total of 142 adolescents aged 10 to 14 years wrote about their past weekend, their past and future life stories and generated a cultural life script. Across age groups, adolescents told past life stories that were overall mixed (both positive and negative) or moderately positive in emotional tone, and future life stories that were positive or highly positive. In relation to life story development, we replicated findings on age-related development of life story coherence in both past and future life stories in 10-14-year-olds. Lastly, the study highlights the link between life story coherence and cultural life script abilities. Cultural life script typicality was linked to life story coherence for both past and future life stories and across all age groups, and a majority of events mentioned in future life stories overlapped with cultural life script events.
Asunto(s)
Cultura , Emociones , Narración , Adolescente , Factores de Edad , Niño , Dinamarca , Femenino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMEN
The present study compared life story chapters and self-defining memories in 25 patients with schizophrenia and 25 matched controls. All participants were tested on neurocognition and rated on symptoms. Participants identified and rated life story chapters and self-defining memories on emotional valence, causal coherence, and self-continuity. Temporal coherence and temporal macrostructure were also assessed. Patients rated their life story chapters as more negative compared to controls, but there were few significant differences regarding temporal coherence, temporal macrostructure, and ratings of causal coherence and self-continuity. In patients, poorer neurocognitive function and higher degree of negative symptoms were related to less causal coherence and lower self-continuity in relation to chapters. In general, few differences were found between the patients and the controls. This may be due to the highly structured method used to assess life stories or to the fact that our patient group was cognitively well-functioning.