The Interplay of Depression, Rumination, and Negative Autobiographical Memory

This experiment investigated rumination as a possible mechanism for the phenomenon of depression increasing negative autobiographical memories. Participants recalled a negative autobiographical memory involving school before rating the negative mood intensity of that memory, then half of the participants ruminated on that memory and half of the participants were distracted from it. Participants then rated the memory again, and either ruminated or were distracted for a second time before rating the memory for a third time and completing the Beck Depression InventoryII, the Rumination on Sadness Scale, and demographic questions. The negative mood intensity of the autobiographical memory decreased over time, but did so to a lesser extent when participants ruminated on it versus being distracted (interaction p < .001, d = 1.01). Furthermore, for the rumination condition, participants with greater depression scores reported negativity ratings that decreased at a slower rate over time; for the distraction condition, participants with greater depression scores reported negativity ratings that decreased at a faster rate over time (interaction p = .040, triangle R-2 = .047). Depression leads to rumination, and may also amplify the effect of rumination on the negativity of autobiographical memories. The effects of rumination may be due to memory effects such as retrieval practice and mood congruency. Individuals experiencing higher levels of depressive symptom severity may be more likely to experience increasingly negative memories due to rumination