The role of avoidance in overgeneral autobiographical memory retrieval

Overgeneral memory (OGM) retrieval is characterised by retrieval of autobiographical memories in insufficient specific detail. It has traditionally been associated with a range of psychopathological conditions. This thesis examined one of the tenets of a major theory of OGM by testing the contribution of avoidance to OGM retrieval. This research programme achieved this goal by deconstructing avoidance into specific avoidant strategies and subsequently assessed their relative impacts on OGM retrieval by requiring participants to complete the Autobiographical Memory Task. Study 1 found that participants instructed to either suppress thoughts (thought suppression) or inhibit any feeling (emotional inhibition) in response to a distressing film retrieved fewer OGMs than did controls who did not engage in these avoidant strategies. Study 2 found that participants who engaged in distraction to avoid a distressing stimulus subsequently retrieved more specific memories than did controls. Study 3 examined the proposition that depleted cognitive resources during avoidance may further impede retrieval of memories in specific details. It found that participants who engaged in thought suppression in association with a dual task intended to compromise availability of cognitive resources retrieved more specific memories than those who suppressed without additional cognitive load, but both groups retrieved more specific memories than controls did. Study 4 showed that the facilitating effects of thought suppression and emotion inhibition on memory retrieval could also be extended to enhance the ability to imagine future experiences in specific detail. Collectively, these findings are inconsistent with the CaR-FA-X model’s functional-avoidance hypothesis in explaining OGM retrieval insofar as they suggest that different regulatory strategies that aim to reduce awareness of adverse emotional memories do not necessarily lead to increased OGM retrieval in psychologically healthy individuals. These findings are discussed in the context of ironic process theory and the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis