THE ROLE OF METAMEMORY IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE IN DYSPHORIC INDIVIDUALS by Matthew James King Master of Science, McMaster University 2010 Honours Bachelor of Science, University of Toronto, 2008 A dissertation presented to Ryerson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Program of Psychology Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2016 © (Matthew James King) 2016 ! Author’s Declaration AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A DISSERTATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this dissertation. This is a true copy of the dissertation, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this dissertation to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this dissertation by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my dissertation may be made electronically available to the public. ii ! ! THE ROLE OF METAMEMORY IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE IN DYSPHORIC INDIVIDUALS Doctor of Philosophy Matthew James King Psychology Ryerson University 2016 Abstract Autobiographical memory (AM) performance in individuals with depressive symptoms has repeatedly been shown to be overgeneral (OGM) in nature, and characterized by summaries of repeated events or long periods of time rather than a single event tied to a unique spatial and temporal context. The present body of work was designed to address the metamnemonic aspects of AM performance in dysphoric individuals, with the underlying motivation being that OGM may not be a unique phenomenon specific to depression or AM, and that it may reflect a more general pattern of memory impairment. The studies presented herein examine various aspects of metamemory and other memory processes that may offer a parsimonious account of OGM as poor event memory in general, rather than a specific standalone finding. In Study 1 several metamnemonic processes were investigated using a quantity-accuracy profile approach. Here, the results showed that performance between dysphoric and non-dysphoric participants was nearly indistinguishable on measures of calibration, resolution, grain-size setting, and criterion setting, suggesting that these aspects of metamemory are intact in dysphoria for immediately tested material. Study 2 examined whether it is possible to “create” OGMs by employing a delay manipulation for both autobiographical (3 day delay) and laboratory-based events (7 day delay). Indeed, the results from this study showed that the iii ! ! performance on both tasks declines for both groups, but that this effect was of a greater magnitude in the dysphoric group. Critically, no differences emerged for immediately tested information. Finally, Study 3 examined the role of working memory and memory search strategies in the recollection of autobiographically relevant information. The results from Study 3 showed that dysphoric individuals may engage in a less organized search strategy than non-dysphoric participants as exhibited by a tendency to switch set in the midst of thematically related information. Taken as a whole, these data indicate that OGM may be attributable to deficits in memory search strategies in conjunction with memories that may be more prone to decay and/or forgetting, suggesting that OGM may not be a depression-specific phenomenon, but rather the downstream deficit of degraded memory representation. iv ! ! Acknowledgements The work presented herein would not have been possible without the patience, guidance, and support of Dr. Todd Girard. I will be grateful always to have had the opportunity to spend five years of my life working with a truly wonderful person, a brilliant academic mind, and a person who encouraged me to conduct the research that was meaningful to me. I would not have made it to this point in my career without Dr. Bruce Christensen and his willingness to support and facilitate my career goals. His mentorship and friendship have continued to be a pillar of support and motivation throughout the years, and I count myself lucky to have learned from him in academic and personal contexts. Thanks also to my other committee member Dr. Julia Spaniol, who offered methodological considerations, and support throughout the entire process of this work. Thanks to Dr. Aaron Benjamin who dedicated a large amount of his time during the conceptualization stages of this project, and who provided profound insight into memory use as a skill. Thanks to Dr. Ed McAnanama for his help throughout this process. I am thankful to Tamara Arenovich at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for her help with the analyses and calculations in SAS. Thank you to the undergraduate students I had the pleasure of working with who dedicated their time running participants, or scoring data: Candice Bodnar and Sofia Bortoluzzi. Finally, I am thankful for my parents, Debra and Richard King for their unwavering support, and to my wonderful wife, Hilary Cooke for allowing and encouraging me to pursue my dreams. v ! ! Dedication To Mom and Dad, Thank you for instilling in me the value of education, and for encouraging me to always give it my best. You both have contributed so much to my life and words cannot express my unending gratitude. vi ! ! Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….. iii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………..................... v Dedication……………………………………………………................................... vi Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………… vii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………….. ix List of Figures………………………………………………………………………. xi List of Appendices…………………………………………………………………. xii CHAPTER 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………. 1 Traditionalist Perspectives on Memory ……………………………………….. 3 Modern Memory Consolidation Theories……………………………………… 8 Episodic Future Thinking: Memory as a Reconstructive Process…………….. 10 Autobiographical Memory……………………………………………………. 15 Empirical Literature Summary………………………………………………… 23 Metamemory…………………………………………………………………… 25 Clinical and Cognitive Features of Depression ……………………………… 39 Conclusion of Chapter 1………………………………………………………. 48 CHAPTER 2: The Quantity-Accuracy Profile (QAP) for Dysphoric and Non- Dysphoric Individuals………………………………………………………………. 51 Background and Hypotheses…………………………………………………… 51 Method…………………………………………………………………………. 56 Procedure…………………………………………………………………. 59 Experimental Measures…………………………………………………… 60 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………… 62 Results………………………………………………………………………….. 63 Discussion……………………………………………………………………… 68 CHAPTER 3: “Creating” Overgeneral Episodic and AM in Dysphoric and Non- Dysphoric Individuals……………………………………………………………… 79 Background and Hypotheses…………………………………………………… 79 Method…………………………………………………………………………. 87 Procedure………………………………………………………………… 89 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………… 91 Results………………………………………………………………………….. 92 Discussion……………………………………………………………………… 102 CHAPTER 4: Memory Search Strategies for Autobiographically Relevant Information in Dysphoric and Non-Dysphoric Individuals………………………… 120 Background and Hypotheses…………………………………………………… 120 Method…………………………………………………………………………. 125 Procedure………………………………………………………………… 126 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………… 128 Results………………………………………………………………………… 128 Discussion……………………………………………………………………… 130 CHAPTER 5: Integration and General Discussion………………………………… 141 Integration with Current Theories of Autobiographical Memory, Memory, and Metamemory…………………………………………………………………… 143 vii ! ! Limitations……………………………………………………………………... 159 Final Remarks………………………………………………………………….. 161 References………………………………………………………………………….. 175 Glossary……………….……………………………………………………………. 202 viii ! ! List of Tables Table 1: Summary of Quantity-Accuracy Profile (QAP) Measures………………... 75 Table 2: Demographic and Cognitive Data of Participants (Study 1)……………… 76 Table 3: PRC and Grain Size Summary……………………………………………... 78 Table 4: Demographic and Cognitive Data of Participants (Study 2)……………… 116 Table 5: Descriptive Summary of Richness across 2 AM tasks……………………. 118 Table 6: Demographic and Cognitive Data of Participants (Study 3)……………… 137 Table 7: Working Memory Capacity Comparison between Participants…………... 138 Table 8: Memory Search Performance……………………………………………... 138 Table 9: Summary of Mediation Analysis………………………………………….. 139 ix ! ! List of Figures Figure 1: Schematic of the Self-Memory System ……………….............................. 18 Figure 2: Calibration Curves ………………………………………………………. 77 Figure 3: Example of event descriptions on the AI………………………………… 114 Figure 4: Three-way Interaction on the AI ………………………………………… 115 Figure 5: All Two-way Interactions on the EMT ………………………………….. 117 Figure 6: Main Effect of Confidence on the EMT ………………………………… 119 Figure 7: Mediation Analysis Model ………………………………………………. 140 x ! ! List of Appendices Appendix 1: Sample Consent Form ………………................................................... 163 Appendix 2: Transcript from Study 1 and 2.……………………………………….. 166 Appendix 3: Response Interval Form ……………………………………………… 171 xi ! ! General Introduction “Memory is more than just remembering” (Benjamin, 2008, p. 175). Memory is a reconstructive process (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter & Addis, 2007). If only two attributes about memory are to be taught to an aspiring psychologist, these two ideas may prove to be the most valuable. The first attribute implies