Abstract

AUTELIO, João Garcez  and  CLAUDIO, Victor. Congruência de humor em memórias autobiográficas de infância de indivíduos com depressão. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.2, pp.159-173. ISSN 0870-8231.

This is a confirmatory experimental study performed with the objective of evaluating whether there are mood congruency effects in depressed subject’s recall of childhood autobiographical memories. In this study we also sought to compare depressed subjects and subjects without a recent or past history of psychological disturbances, concerning the latency times exhibited when recalling these memories and the type of memories recalled. To achieve these objectives, we used a sample of 30 individuals (15 with a diagnostic of depression and 15 without recent or past history of psychological disturbances), to whom we applied a set of clinical scales and an Autobiographical Memory Task. The results suggest the nonexistence of a mood congruency effect in depressed subjects childhood autobiographical memories, that can be due to the fact that these memories have been more frequently remembered throughout the life span, when compared to their recent memories. However, several questions remain regarding this issue. We also realized that the depressed subjects showed more difficulties remembering specific memories, without there being significant differences between both groups of subjects, in what concerns the type of memory preferentially recalled.

Keywords : Autobiographical memories; Childhood; Depression; Emotion; Mood congruency effect.

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