It’s TACI (Talking About A Current Issue) Time
… not to be confused with TACO Time
Rewriting the Past: Where Do We Begin?
The other day, something discussed in my personality psychology class got me thinking about autobiographical memory in a way I hadn't considered before. We were learning about what constitutes someone's sense of self, and I couldn't help but notice a connection to something that has been researched in the Sheldon Memory Lab: memory rescripting. It made me wonder whether the way we understand ourselves might also influence how we can change the memories that shape us.
In my undergraduate personality class, we discussed personality psychologist Dan McAdams' (2013) idea that there are three levels to understanding a person: (1) the actor, who we are in terms of our personality traits, (2) the agent, what motivates us and the goals we pursue, and (3) the author, the story we construct about our lives through autobiographical memories.
What caught my attention was that these three levels also offer distinct ways of analyzing a single autobiographical memory—a representation of a personally experienced event (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). For instance, think about a time you did not perform as well as you hoped on an important exam. You might remember yourself as someone who was anxious or insecure (actor), someone who desperately wanted to succeed (agent), or interpret the experience as proof that you weren't good enough (author).
This made me reconsider my understanding of memory rescripting, a therapeutic technique explored in memory research that involves revisiting distressing memories to imagine alternative, constructive ways an experience could have unfolded (Holmes et al., 2016). I had previously understood rescripting as a way to change the emotional meaning attached to an experience, something that seems closely related to McAdams' (2013) author level. But if our memories reflect different aspects of who we are, does it matter which aspects we target when trying to rescript them?
I brought this question to our lab meeting, where our discussion introduced an interesting possibility: perhaps changing the broader meaning of a memory starts with revisiting the details of the experience itself.
Conway and Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) Self-Memory System offers an interesting perspective on this idea. Their model proposes that autobiographical memories are organized hierarchically, from broad life periods and general experiences down to the specific details of individual events. These event-specific details include sensory and perceptual information, such as what we saw, heard, or felt in a particular moment. For example, rather than only remembering that you struggled with exams, you might recall sitting in a particular exam room, struggling with a question, and feeling increasingly anxious. This made me wonder whether revisiting specific details of an experience, which may reflect trait-expressions (actor) and motivations (agent), could provide a more effective starting point for rescripting than trying to directly alter top-down narrative schemas about ourselves (author).
This question becomes particularly relevant when considering individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). Holmes et al. (2016) explain that individuals with depression often recall autobiographical memories in an overgeneralized way, remembering broad patterns of experiences rather than specific events (e.g. "I always fail at school" rather than “I struggled with this exam”). This raises the possibility that focusing only on the overarching negative narrative, resembling McAdams' (2013) author level, may not be sufficient for rescripting. Instead, guiding individuals to revisit the specific details of an event, such as what happened, how they acted or responded in that moment, what they were thinking and feeling, and the circumstances surrounding the experience, might provide the necessary material to constructively rewrite the experience.
Thinking back to my original question, this research highlights the potential importance of revisiting specific experiences when attempting to change the broader meaning attached to them. Particularly for individuals who tend to recall negative experiences in an overgeneralized way, considering how they perceived themselves, what they wanted, and how they responded in a particular moment could help inform more effective and targeted approaches to rescripting distressing memories.
What began as a connection I noticed in my personality class ultimately made me reconsider something I thought I understood about memory rescripting. Perhaps McAdams' (2013) actor, agent, and author levels aren't as separate when it comes to the memories we construct about ourselves. After all, if our broader life stories are shaped by the experiences we remember, perhaps changing those stories begins with revisiting the specific details that make up our memories.
References
Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.2.261
Holmes, E. A., Blackwell, S. E., Burnett Heyes, S., Renner, F., & Raes, F. (2016). Mental imagery in depression: Phenomenology, potential mechanisms, and treatment implications. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 249–280. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-092925
McAdams, D. P. (2013). The art and science of personality development. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3).
By Sofia Ballarano | Undergraduate Honours Student, Sheldon Memory Lab
