Do People’s Motives Influence Their Susceptibility to Imagination Inflation?

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie J. Sharman ◽  
Samantha Calacouris
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Source Monitoring ◽  
False Beliefs ◽  
Explicit Motives ◽  
Imagination Inflation ◽  
Motivational Model ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
Affiliation Motives

People are motivated to remember past autobiographical experiences related to their current goals; we investigated whether people are also motivated to remember false past experiences related to those goals. In Session 1, we measured subjects’ implicit and explicit achievement and affiliation motives. Subjects then rated their confidence about, and memory for, childhood events containing achievement and affiliation themes. Two weeks later in Session 2, subjects received a “computer-generated profile” based on their Session 1 ratings. This profile suggested that one false achievement event and one false affiliation event had happened in childhood. After imagining and describing the suggested false events, subjects made confidence and memory ratings a second time. For achievement events, subjects’ explicit motives predicted their false beliefs and memories. The results are explained using source monitoring and a motivational model of autobiographical memory.

scholarly journals Autobiographical Memory and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 606-606
Author(s):  
Yao Fu ◽  
Ellen Idler
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Feeding Tube ◽  
Treatment Preferences ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Gastric Feeding ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
End Of Life Treatment

Abstract In this mixed-methods study of religious/cultural beliefs and end-of-life treatment preferences in China, we surveyed 1,085 mainland Chinese people aged 18 or above online. We assessed the effects of past experience with dying people they have known and their own end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness vignettes. We found that respondents who knew or visited someone at the end of their lives were somewhat less likely to choose aggressive treatment for themselves in a lung cancer scenario (25% compared to 33%, p=.013). However, there was less difference in an Alzheimer’s disease scenario, with a choice to use a gastric feeding tube or not (39% compared to 42%, p=.262). Open-ended responses indicate that people refer to these past experiences as a reference in making end-of-life decisions for themselves. This study provides empirical evidence that autobiographical memory has a directive function that individuals call on to inform future behaviors.

scholarly journals Enhanced brain activity associated with memory access in highly superior autobiographical memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (30) ◽  
pp. 7795-7800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerio Santangelo ◽  
Clarissa Cavallina ◽  
Paola Colucci ◽  
Alessia Santori ◽  
Simone Macrì ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Efficient Access ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Past Experiences

Brain systems underlying human memory function have been classically investigated studying patients with selective memory impairments. The discovery of rare individuals who have highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) provides, instead, an opportunity to investigate the brain systems underlying enhanced memory. Here, we carried out an fMRI investigation of a group of subjects identified as having HSAM. During fMRI scanning, eight subjects with HSAM and 21 control subjects were asked to retrieve autobiographical memories (AMs) as well as non-AMs (e.g., examples of animals). Subjects were instructed to signal the “access” to an AM by a key press and to continue “reliving” it immediately after. Compared with controls, individuals with HSAM provided a richer AM recollection and were faster in accessing AMs. The access to AMs was associated with enhanced prefrontal/hippocampal functional connectivity. AM access also induced increased activity in the left temporoparietal junction and enhanced functional coupling with sensory cortices in subjects with HSAM compared with controls. In contrast, subjects with HSAM did not differ from controls in functional activity during the reliving phase. These findings, based on fMRI assessment, provide evidence of interaction of brain systems engaged in memory retrieval and suggest that enhanced activity of these systems is selectively involved in enabling more efficient access to past experiences in HSAM.

Implicit and Explicit Motives Influence Accessibility to Different Autobiographical Knowledge

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1046-1055 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Woike ◽  
Shenequa Mcleod ◽  
Michelle Goggin
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Motives ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

scholarly journals On the relationship between autobiographical episodic memory and spatial navigation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina L. Fan ◽  
Hervé Abdi ◽  
Brian Levine
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Online Study ◽  
The Common ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
The Relationship

Influential research has focused on identifying the common neural and behavioural substrates underlying episodic memory (the recall of specific details from past experiences) and spatial cognition, with some theories proposing that these are supported by the same mechanisms. However, the similarities and differences between these two forms of memory in humans require further specification. We used an individual-differences approach based on self-reported survey data collected in a large online study (n = 7487), focusing on autobiographical episodic memory and spatial navigation and their relationship to object and spatial imagery abilities. Multivariate analyses replicated prior findings that autobiographical episodic memory abilities dissociated from spatial navigational abilities. Considering imagery, episodic autobiographical memory overlapped with imagery of objects, whereas spatial navigation overlapped with a tendency to focus on spatial schematics and manipulation. These results suggest that episodic autobiographical memory and spatial navigation correspond to distinct mental processes.

Temporal self-appraisal in a Chinese context: Distancing autobiographical memory following self-uncertainty salience

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Qing Yang ◽  
Oscar Ybarra ◽  
Kees van den Bos ◽  
Yufang Zhao ◽  
Lili Guan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Asian Culture ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Chinese Context ◽  
The Past ◽  
East Asian Culture ◽  
Past Experiences

On the premise that individuals are inclined to self-enhance, in temporal self-appraisal (TSA) theory it is suggested that people can motivationally reconstruct subjective distances from their past self to serve that goal. However, given the mixed evidence found in an East Asian cultural context (i.e., Japan), it is important to test the cultural applicability of TSA in a different East Asian culture. Thus we tested the TSA of a Chinese sample, focusing on past-self distance reconstruction. The results supported the prediction suggested in TSA theory, in that participants tended to feel farther away from negative (vs. positive) past experiences. Further, this effect was greater when people were primed with a self-threat (i.e., self-uncertainty salience). These patterns were found independently of whether the past experience was recent (3 months ago) or in the distant past (3 years ago). Implications for crosscultural applicability of TSA theory are discussed.

scholarly journals The power of imagination / The weakness of dating: on two origins of autobiographical memory distortion

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.V. Нуркова ◽  
D.A. Vasilenko
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Memory Distortion ◽  
High Confidence ◽  
Imagination Inflation ◽  
Single Case Report ◽  
Forensic Practice ◽  
Reliable Source

The article focuses on issues of autobiographical memory malleability which are of high relevance to forensic practice. Taking into account both single case report and mass studies we revealed that time is the weakest aspect of autobiographical recollection. Namely, dating of past event and ordering of event components are prone to memory distortion to the maximum extent. Paradoxically, it coincides with high confidence in accuracy of event recalled. Than we shifted to the most discussed in the relevant literature mechanism of memory transformation i.e. imagination inflation. This mechanism consists of mistaking just imagined event for a real one. We also noted that high subjective probability of imagined event and reliable source of misinformation make significant impact into memory transformation.

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