week 1 Flashcards
(21 cards)
Autobiographical Memory
Facts and events that have been interpreted into a story about the self (Buckner & Fivush, 1998).
Specific
eg. a trip to a theme park
General
eg. a holiday
Repeated events
eg. going to the dentist every six months
Personal semantic information
eg. information about their family
Stimulation
Episodic simulation refers to our ability to pre-experience the future by simulating it our minds
containing episodic details:
associated emotions
time
place
The construction of future event simulations is thought to rely heavily on memories
Episodic memory retrieval and future episodic simulations draw on information that is stored within episodic memory
same cognitive construction processes
Stimulation 2
A core component of episodic simulation is the use of mental imagery
Mental imagery is the simulation or re-creation of perceptual experience across sensory modalities (Kosslyn, Ganis, & Thompson, 2001)
Episodic memories, or future events can be experienced as mental images
Allows us to:
Relive the past and pre-live the future,
avoid threats,
seek rewards,
solve problems and
complete tasks
Mental imagery
Mental imagery has special links to emotion
Flashbacks (Brewin & Holmes, 2003)
Flashforwards
Appears to have a stronger effect on emotion
Mental images are rated as more real than verbal thoughts (Mathews, Ridgeway, & Holmes, 2013)
Prediction
Predictions are the expectations of, and/or anticipated reactions to, a particular outcome
Episodic
Estimating how likely it is that you will experience a graduation ceremony and how you may feel on that day
Semantic (abstract)
Predicting who will win the general election
Affective forecasts (emotional reactions to future events)
Commonly predict that upcoming future events will make them feel better or worse than they actually do
Prediction 2
Most prevalent error in affective forecasting is the impact bias
Overestimate the intensity and duration of future events on their emotional reactions
Planning
organisation of steps/ actions towards a goal
Episodic- the steps needed in order to arrive at a specific episodic future outcome
Semantic- setting more general or abstract steps needed in order to for these goals to arise in the future
Plans are often necessary for intended behaviours to be carried out in an effective manner, as it allows for the opportunity to decide how we will behave in future situations
Interactions
The four models of prospection do not function independently of each other People may draw on simulations and predictions in order to formulate intentions and plans
People can base their predictions on their ability to engage in episodic simulations of the future
Simulation and prediction
Individuals increase their confidence in fictitious events occurring after imagining that event, with this confidence/belief increasing the more times the event has been imagined
Simulation of possible future event affects one’s predictions regarding whether the event will actually occur
The impact of simulation has also been extended to predictions about actions
Simulation of possible future events affects one’s predictions regarding whether the event will actually occur
Episodic simulation is useful in the planning of effective strategies
Functions
The four modes of prospection, and their inter-relationships, are important due to the range of adaptive functions that they are agued to serve
Emotion
Positive episodic simulation has been shown to enhance mood
Psychological Wellbeing
Found by actively generating positive hypothetical future scenarios reduced the worry associated with an upcoming event (Brown, MacLeod, Tata, & Goddard, 2002)
Focusing on positive hypothetical situations may provide individuals with a sense of relief
Pro-social behaviour
Participants had to either imagine a vivid scenario of helping a person in need or complete a maths problem
Participants were more inclined to help a person in need after constructing a vivid personal episode of helping that person
Cognitive Theory of Depression
Beck’s Cognitive theory of depression
Biased thought processes are a primary cause of depressive symptoms
Central to Beck’s theory is a triad of negativity, whereby individuals hold negative views of the self, the world and the future.
Schemas
Individuals vulnerable to depression have maladaptive schemas
Autobiographical Memory & Depression
Overgeneral memory
Individuals have difficulty recalling specific, or episodic, events from their past
Recall categoric, or repeated, events
Cognitive Theory of Depression
Biased beliefs about the self and the world = negativity
If this could change = hope
If prospection is biased - sadness, dejection and hopelessness are understandable reactions to the belief things will always be bad
Social withdrawal, limiting social activities, a reliance on avoidance coping = fewer positive experiences (Holahan, Moos, Holahan, Brennan, & Schutte, 2005)
Fewer positive past experiences = less materials for constructing potential positive future experiences
Being in a negative mood can make negative aspects of the environment and negative thought processes more salient
More likely to remember a negative past and imagine a negative future
Prediction Biases
Higher levels of depressive symptomatology were associated with pessimistic predictions about goal achievement
Reduced vividness
Observer perspective
Believed that goal achievement would bring them lower levels of positive emotion
Less in-the-moment happiness, satisfaction, and pleasure when thinking about achieving their goals.
CBT
One of the most widely used and recommended therapies for depression (Department of Health, 2001).
Socratic questions
Help change clients pessimistic predictions of the future by coaching them to make accurate predictions
Deal with automatic thoughts that distress the patient, by uncovering the assumptions and evidence that underpin a client’s thoughts.
Aim to help the client develop reasonable alternatives and evaluate the potential consequences
CBT 2
CBT on prospection biases
Examined pre- to post-intervention (ICBT) change on a future thinking task in depressed clients (Andersson et al., 2013)
The future-thinking task asked participants to generate future positive and negative events, and rate them on likelihood of occurrence.
No change in likelihood predictions for positive events, but a reduction in likelihood predictions for negative events.
Reduction in depressive symptoms
Cognitive Bias Modification
Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is a general term that has been adopted to refer to experimental and therapeutic techniques developed with the intention of directly manipulating a target cognitive bias
A range of experimental studies have demonstrated the use of positive imagery to
Improve mood
verbally thinking about the same positive content made participants feel worse
Increase optimism
Decrease depressive symptoms
Modify predictions
Increase behavioural activation
Repeated imagining = higher expectations = higher likelihood of engaging in the behaviour
