Autobiographical memory, the wonderful memories of our experiences

Remembering our first childhood friend, the smell we liked the most, who we were, and how we enjoyed life are issues inherent to autobiographical memory. Can you imagine forgetting who the people closest to you are? How was your first kiss? Or what were your favorite places?

Today we will talk about this type of memory. To begin, we will tell you what it is about. Later, we will talk about its division. We will also delve into its relationship with consciousness. Finally, we will see some current research that gives us light to find alternative treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s disease.

Autobiographical memory, what is it?

Autobiographical memory is one that is related to personal experiences. It consists of the memories we have about our life. In addition, it is the support of our biography, since it acts as an organizer of our experiences.

This memory results from the interaction we have with the world and it is defined by what we do. Now, according to José María Ruiz-Vargas, professor and researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, autobiographical memories are characterized by:

The relationship with the self. Since memories contain information that helps structure and defines it.Narrative structure. Well, when we evoke personal experiences from the past we do so by telling a story. Then, “the experience becomes a narrative through recovery” (Ruiz-Vargas, 2004, p.10). Mental images. Autobiographical memories are evoked including visual images and other sensory modalities; for example, hearing and smell.emotional component. Emotions can have a strengthening effect on memories.

Autobiographical memory also has to do with a temporal distribution. The availability of the personal past does not occur uniformly, it varies for each person and also depending on the stage of the life cycle in which we find ourselves.

Divisions of autobiographical memory

Autobiographical memory encompasses two elements:

Episodic autobiographical memory. It has to do with memories of one’s own past, that is, with those associated with personal experiences that occur in a specific place and time.Semantic autobiographical memory. They are memories associated with events that occur repetitively and with past experiences that cover long periods of time lived.

Some examples of episodic autobiographical memories are the following: “I remember that day when I went diving and saw a turtle for the first time,” or “I remember when I was hospitalized for depression.” On the other hand, one of semantic autobiographical memories would be: “When I was a child, I used to visit grandma every Saturday.”

If we analyze both types of memory, We can see that episodic autobiographical memory is related to subjective time, allowing us to re-experience previous experiences through autonoetic consciousness; that is, allowing us to have the feeling that we are living our memories, like a kind of mental time travel. On the other hand, semantic autobiographical memory leads to consciousness limited to the feeling of familiarity.

Autobiographical memory today

Autobiographical memory continues to be a widely explored area today. Above all, associated with neurodegenerative diseases and post-traumatic stress disorder. We will delve into Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

Autobiographical memory in Alzheimer’s Disease is suffering a decline. The curious thing is that through various investigations it has been seen that it occurs differently depending on the type and in normal and pathological aging.

So, when people remember our past, we show a thought associated with episodic memory. The production of these memories is low compared to the semantic ones. People with AD have little ability to recover episodic autobiographical moments.

To study autobiographical memory in AD, some experts have resorted to experiments through reminiscence, that is, the evocation of memories.

For example, El haj, Fasotti & Allain (2012), in their article published in the Consciouness and Cognition Magazine, show how they examined the involuntary nature of autobiographical memories evoked from music. Other authors emphasize the evocation of memories but through images, videos and even smell.

In summary, autobiographical memory is closely related to who we are, because it has to do with our experiences in a general and detailed way. It is different how autobiographical memories are evoked in normal and pathological aging.

Additionally, people with AD show a progressive loss in episodic autobiographical memory. Various research continues to explore this type of memory, We hope that they continue to open the way for us, to better understand it in both normal and pathological functioning.

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