School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Emotion. 2012 Jun;12(3):470-8. doi: 10.1037/a0025984. Epub 2011 Oct 24.
Recalling positive autobiographical memories is a powerful emotion regulation strategy that can be used to repair low mood and alleviate negative affect. Unlike healthy individuals, those with current or past depression do not experience an improvement in mood as a consequence of recalling positive memories. We tested whether differences in processing mode might account for this impairment. Following mood induction procedures designed to ensure equivalence of mood state, depressed (n = 35) and recovered depressed (n = 33) participants were instructed to recall a positive memory and focus on it while adopting either an abstract or a concrete mode of processing. Participants in the abstract processing condition experienced no change in mood, while those in the concrete processing condition showed improved mood after memory recall. This research illustrates that the process by which positive autobiographical memories are recalled is important in determining their emotional impact and suggests that psychological interventions for depression may be improved by explicitly targeting processing mode.
回忆积极的自传体记忆是一种强大的情绪调节策略，可以用来修复情绪低落和减轻负面情绪。与健康个体不同，当前或过去患有抑郁症的个体不会因为回忆积极的记忆而改善情绪。我们测试了处理模式的差异是否可以解释这种损伤。在确保情绪状态等效的情绪诱导程序之后，抑郁（n = 35）和已恢复抑郁（n = 33）的参与者被指示回忆一个积极的记忆，并在采用抽象或具体的处理模式时专注于该记忆。在抽象处理条件下的参与者情绪没有变化，而在具体处理条件下的参与者在回忆记忆后情绪得到改善。这项研究表明，回忆积极自传体记忆的过程对于确定其情绪影响很重要，并表明通过明确针对处理模式，对抑郁症的心理干预可能会得到改善。
