Accessibility Model of Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory

Overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM), the inability to recall specific events and instead recall general memories, is a well-known feature of psychopathology. Although OGM has been regarded as a deficit in generative retrieval, recent studies highlight the role of direct and involuntary (associative) retrieval in OGM. We propose the accessibility model, which discards the hierarchical structure of autobiographical memory and truncated search hypothesis. The accessibility model assumes that memory representations of different specificities are structured in parallel, and compete to be retrieved. The model contends that direct and generative retrieval are serial processes (i.e., direct retrieval initially, followed by generative retrieval), and specific and general memory accessibility each affect OGM. We argue that increased accessibility of negative general memories and decreased accessibility of positive specific memories underlie OGM in depression. These changes in accessibility are differentially associated with hippocampal abnormalities, memory suppression, self-referential processing, and positivity biases, suggesting different mechanisms depending on emotional valence. Furthermore, we propose that metacognitive monitoring and control are required to initiate generative retrieval when retrieved memories are goal inconsistent. The accessibility model integrates existing basic memory and OGM research, which may lead to improved memory therapeutics, and new avenues for research development.