Matsumoto Noboru
Division of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano, 390-8621, Japan.
Mem Cognit. 2025 Aug 27. doi: 10.3758/s13421-025-01785-y.
Self-schemas are formed from the common elements of past experiences. In clinical contexts, maladaptive negative self-schemas are associated with resistance to therapeutic interventions and prospectively predict a worse course of depression. One possible way to update self-schemas is to recall specific autobiographical events that support or contradict current self-schemas. This study investigated whether retrieving specific autobiographical memories facilitates self-schema updating more effectively than retrieving general memories or no memories. Additionally, the study explored whether depressive symptom severity was associated with memory accessibility biases. Undergraduate students (N = 101) completed an autobiographical memory task where they recalled specific memories in which they or their friend behaved consistently or inconsistently with adjective cues (e.g., competent, inferior). Participants rated how well these traits applied to themselves (i.e., assessment of self-schema) before and after the autobiographical memory retrieval. Results showed that retrieving memories in which participants behaved consistently or inconsistently with their traits led to changes in self-schema in the corresponding direction, and this effect was more pronounced when specific memories were recalled. Furthermore, shorter retrieval latencies for self-inconsistent memories were associated with greater changes in self-schema. Depressive symptom severity was associated with shorter retrieval latencies only in the condition where memories were inconsistent with positive self-traits and in the condition where they were consistent with negative self-traits. These findings highlight the utility of specific autobiographical recall in self-schema updating and suggest that interventions targeting autobiographical memory specificity may effectively address negative self-schemas, particularly in individuals with dysphoria.
自我图式由过去经历的共同元素构成。在临床情境中，适应不良的消极自我图式与对治疗干预的抵抗相关，并前瞻性地预测更糟糕的抑郁病程。更新自我图式的一种可能方式是回忆支持或与当前自我图式相矛盾的特定自传体事件。本研究调查了提取特定自传体记忆是否比提取一般记忆或不提取记忆更有效地促进自我图式更新。此外，该研究还探讨了抑郁症状严重程度是否与记忆可及性偏差相关。本科生（N = 101）完成了一项自传体记忆任务，他们回忆自己或朋友与形容词线索（如能干、自卑）一致或不一致的特定记忆。参与者在自传体记忆提取前后对这些特质适用于自己的程度进行评分（即自我图式评估）。结果表明，提取参与者行为与特质一致或不一致的记忆会导致自我图式在相应方向上发生变化，当回忆特定记忆时这种效应更明显。此外，自我不一致记忆的提取潜伏期越短，与自我图式的变化越大相关。抑郁症状严重程度仅在记忆与积极自我特质不一致的情况下以及与消极自我特质一致的情况下与较短的提取潜伏期相关。这些发现突出了特定自传体回忆在自我图式更新中的作用，并表明针对自传体记忆特异性的干预可能有效地解决消极自我图式，特别是在烦躁不安的个体中。
