Identifying the Most Effective Strategies for Improving Autobiographical Memory Specificity and Its Implications for Mental Health Problems: A Meta-analysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of psychological interventions, used to enhance autobiographical memory specificity, on their therapeutic targets. A systematic search identified 22 studies with 27 therapeutic effect sizes meeting the criteria for inclusion. The results showed that the aggregated effect size for all included interventions was computed as g = 1.08, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.72, 1.44] for post-test assessments of autobiographical memory specificity, and g = 0.78, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.44, 1.13] for the follow-up assessments. No significant moderating effects were found for number of sessions and age in post-test and follow-up assessments. However, the duration of follow-up assessments significantly moderated the effects of the interventions on autobiographical memory specificity (b = - .17, p = 0.01). Medium to large aggregated effect sizes were computed for improving depressive symptoms (g = 0.34, p < 0.01), life satisfaction (g = 0.80, p < 0.05), and executive function (g = 1.03, p < 0.01) for post-test assessments. At follow-up, no significant effects were found for the included mental health outcomes. Based on the results, Memory Specificity Training can be suggested as the most effective short-term intervention for improving the specificity of autobiographical memory. However, the results of this meta-analysis challenge the recommendation of using autobiographical memory-based interventions as standalone therapies to improve mental health problems. Moreover, the lack of a sufficient number of high quality RCT studies is a major gap in this research field. The implications for future studies are discussed.