Depression diagnoses, but not individual differences in depression symptoms, are associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity

Abstract

Objectives Difficulties recalling specific events from one's autobiographical past have been associated with a range of emotional disorders. We present the first examination of whether diagnoses of depression or individual differences in depression severity explain the most variance in autobiographical memory specificity. We also examine the contribution of other key cognitive factors associated with reduced memory specificity – rumination and verbal fluency – to these effects. Methods Participants with (n = 21) and without (n = 25) major depressive disorder completed self‐report measures of depression severity (Beck Depression Inventory version II; BDI‐II) and ruminative tendency (Ruminative Response Scale), a measure of verbal fluency, and the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to assess memory specificity. Results People diagnosed with depression recalled significantly fewer specific memories in the AMT relative to healthy controls. In a linear regression, diagnostic status explained a significant amount of unique variance in specificity whereas BDI‐II scores did not. Diagnostic group differences in verbal fluency also explained a significant amount of variance in specificity. Conclusions Our findings extend our understanding of the mechanisms involved in reduced memory specificity but future research must explore the causal contribution of weak executive functioning to reduced memory specificity.