The role of rumination and executive function in autobiographical memory phenomenology in depression.

Depression is associated with biases in autobiographical memory (ABM), including difficulties retrieving specific episodic memories, known as overgeneral memory (OGM), and reduced phenomenological richness. Increased levels of rumination and deficits in executive function have been identified as factors underlying OGM, as both likely limit the cognitive resources available for the effortful search process required to retrieve specific memories. While their role in OGM is well-established, less is known about how rumination and executive function may relate to the phenomenological experience of ABMs. The present study investigated the role of depressive symptoms, rumination, and executive function in the phenomenology of ABMs. We hypothesized that higher levels of depressive symptoms would be associated with impoverished phenomenology, and that higher levels of rumination and reduced executive function would also show similar associations. Participants completed an ABM recall task in which they recalled three positive and three negative memories from the past year and rated each memory on several phenomenological characteristics (e.g., vividness and coherence). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression – Revised (CESD-R), rumination using the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and executive function using tasks measuring inhibition (Word-Face Stroop), working memory (Letter-Number Span), and cognitive flexibility (Trail Making Test). The findings support previous literature showing biases in phenomenological experience as a function of depressive symptoms. There were also some findings for biases in ABM as a function of rumination. These findings suggest both depressive symptoms and rumination may influence the phenomenological experience of ABMs and may also contribute to the maintenance of depression.