Learn About The Autobiographical Memory

Remembering your very first childhood friend, remembering your favorite smells, how you were when you were younger, and the different ways you have enjoyed your life are in the autobiographical memory. So can you imagine forgetting the people closest to you? How was your first kiss? What were your favorite places? These are all examples of moments stored in the autobiographical memory.

Today we are going to talk about this type of memory. First, we will talk about what it is and how it relates to your consciousness. Then we take a look at promising research on a potential treatment (or cure) for Alzheimer’s disease.

What is autobiographical memory?

Autobiographical memory is related to personal experiences. It consists of memories that tell the story of your life. Therefore, it is the basis of your biography because it acts as a sorter of your experiences.

This memory system is the result of the interaction you have with the outside world and what you do defines autobiographical memory. According to Jose Maria Ruiz-Vargas, professor and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, autobiographical memories are characterized by:

• The relationship to the self. These memories contain information that helps you shape and define who you are.
• Narrative structure. When you remember personal experiences, you do so by telling a story. Thus, the experience becomes a narrative during the recollection process (Ruiz-Vargas, 2004, p. 10).
• Mental images. Autobiographical memories include visual images. They also include other sensory modalities, including hearing and smell.
• The emotional component. Emotions often make memories stronger and more intense.

Autobiographical memory is also related to time allocation. The availability of the personal past does not happen in a uniform way. It varies from memory to memory, and it also depends on the phase of life you are in.

The division of the autobiographical memory

There are two main elements of autobiographical memory:

• Episodic. This is related to memories from your own past. In other words, memories related to personal experiences that occur at a specific time and place.
• Semantic. These are memories related to events that happen repeatedly and previous experiences that span long periods.

Here are some examples of episodic autobiographical memories. “I remember the day I snorkeled and I saw a turtle for the first time”, or “I remember when they put me in the hospital for depression”. Semantic memories, on the other hand, would be something like, “When I was a kid, I used to visit Grandma every Saturday.”

If you analyze both types of memory, you can see that episodic autobiographical memory is related to subjective time. It allows you to relive past experiences through an autonomous consciousness. In other words, it makes you feel like you are reliving your experiences, a kind of mental journey through time. Semantic autobiographical memory, on the other hand, is more limited to a sense of familiarity.

Research on the autobiographical memory

These days, researchers are very interested in autobiographical memory. Especially because it is related to neurodegenerative diseases and post-traumatic stress.

In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, the autobiographical memory suffers from a deterioration. Through a series of studies, researchers have been able to see that the degenerative process is different depending on the type. They have also discovered that it occurs during normal and pathological aging.

So when you remember your past, you have a thought attached to episodic memory. The production of these memories is low when you compare them with the production of semantic memories. Most importantly, people with Alzheimer’s disease have a poor ability to recover episodic autobiographical moments.

To study autobiographical memory in people with Alzheimer’s, researchers are conducting experiments using the mime process. In other words, they ask people to remember events and memories.

Memory triggers

El Haj, Fasotti and Allain (2012) published the results of their study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition . They looked at the involuntary nature of autobiographical memories triggered by music. Similarly, other authors emphasize the process of memories triggered by images, videos, and even smells.

In conclusion, the autobiographical memory is closely linked to who you are because it is related to your experiences, both in a general and detailed way. The way different things trigger autobiographical memories changes depending on whether the aging process is normal or pathological.

People with Alzheimer’s disease also show a progressive loss of episodic autobiographical memory. Several ongoing studies continue to explore this type of memory. We hope that the results of these studies will help to shed light on and find a cure for neurodegenerative diseases.